Movement restricted at Enguri Bridge crossing point in occupied Abkhazia
The media reports that people are being allowed to enter Abkhazia but not to leave the region. Photo: Tamar Zantaraia/Radio Liberty
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Movement along the Enguri Bridge crossing point between occupied Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia has been restricted, after two people were killed in Sokhumi at noon yesterday.
The media reports that people are being allowed to enter Abkhazia but not to leave the region.
Crossing points remain closed between occupied Tskhinvali and the rest of Georgia as well, causing humanitarian crisis there.
A number of international organisations and actors, including co-chairs of Geneva International Organisations, United States and Amnesty International, have called on de facto officials to "immediately reopen" the crossing points.
Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
Russia recognised the two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent states after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have taken the same step of recognition so far, while the rest of the international community urges Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgia.
International SOS, the world’s leading medical and travel security risk company, has published its annual travel risk map, on which Georgia is among low-risk travel destinations in the world in terms of road safety, security and medical services.
Amnesty International says that famous Georgian doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili, who was abducted by Russian-controlled occupation forces on November 9, must be “immediately released” and the de facto government of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region must reopen crossing points with the rest of Georgia.
Police in Cyprus have detained 17 Georgian citizens for illegally staying in the country.
The US mission to OSCE has called upon for the “immediate release” of a well-known Georgian physician and president of the Association of Orthopedists and Traumatologists of Georgia, Vazha Gaprindashvili, who was abducted by occupation forces on November 9 and has been sentenced to pretrial detention for “deliberately crossing the border.”
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili posthumously awarded 24 veterans of the Abkhaz War on Saint George’s Day yesterday. In her address, President Zurabishvili spoke of the recent developments in the country as well, saying it is no time for internal confrontations now.
De facto authorities of the Russian occupied Georgian region of Abkhazia have imposed restrictions on the Enguri Bridge, which is the only crossing point connecting the region with the rest of Georgia. The “acting president” of Abkhazia Valeri Bganba advised the locals not to travel out of the region amid the threat of the new coronavirus. Moreover, only Russian citizens will be allowed to enter the region until April 7 inclusive.
Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia will temporarily open the Enguri Bridge crossing point, which connects the occupied region with the rest of Georgia, from 9am to 7pm on July 22-24.