State Security Service, EUMM dismiss entry of occupying forces on Tbilisi-controlled territory of Khurvaleti village
Facebook user Luda Salia wrote that occupying forces had entered the village of Khurvaleti and posted a photo: Photo: Luda Salia.
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The Georgian State Security Service and the European Union Monitoring Mission to Georgia (EUMM) have dismissed reports by a Facebook user that occupying forces have entered the Tbilisi-administered territory of the Khurvaleti village at the occupation line between Georgia’s breakawayTskhinvali (South Ossetia) region and the rest of Georgia and are now standing in the yards of locals.
It has not been confirmed that the occupying forces are on the Tbilisi-administered territory. The State Security Service calls upon everyone to refrain from provocative statements”, the agency reported.
The State Security Service added that “any activity by the occupying forces strains the situation on the ground.”
The EUMM head to Georgia Erik Hoeg tweeted:
#EUMM patrols are currently monitoring in the area of Didi Khurvaleti. No signs of new borderisation activities. Security actors are present but we register no incidents. All mechanisms, including Hotline, are being used to ensure communication.
— Erik Hoeg (@erik_hoeg) March 15, 2019
Occupying forces installed a lookout tower at the Khurvaleti village early in February, in the village which is actually cut in two by illegal barbed-wire-fences.
Two Georgian regions Abkhazia and Tskhinvali are currently occupied by Russia.
A creeping occupation and the erection of illegal boards and barriers have become the part of the unlawful process starting from the Russia-Georgia war in 2008.
Occupying forces have installed a lookout tower at the Khurvaleti village, near the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region to “exercise higher pressure on locals and check how many people are trying to cross illegal barriers,”, Georgian Reconciliation Minister Ketevan Tsikhelashvili says.
Georgian officials on Tuesday visited locals of central Georgia's Khurvaleti village who have found their yards split by new barbed wire installations erected by Russian occupying forces near the Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
New illegal barbed wire fences have been noticed by the locals in the village of Khurvaleti, alongside the occupation line of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) today.
Russian occupants have arrested Otar Samniashvili near Khurvaleti village for ‘illegally crossing the border’.
British Embassy to Georgia is saddened by the death of 29-year-old Georgian citizen Irakli Kvaratskhelia, who died in unclear circumstances in occupied Abkhazia earlier this week. Ambassador Justin McKenzie Smith shared a photo of him standing in front of a barbed wire fence, saying “South Ossetia. Abkhazia. Not forgotten”.
The Georgian State Security Service writes in its 2018 report that Russian forces tried to use the two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) to conduct clandestine, illegal operations.
Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia traveled to the village of Khurvaleti in Shida Kartli region, alongside the occupation line with Tskhinvali (South Ossetia). In the village, the minister spoke of the security challenges with the local population.
President of the National Karate Federation of Georgia Kakha B. has been accused of fraud by the State Security Service of Georgia.
Occupying forces have illegally detained two Georgian citizens living in the village of Nikozi, near the occupation live with Georgia’s occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region. Georgian media report that Gabriel Melanashvili and Tamaz Mchedlidze, who were illegally detained late yesterday for crossing the so-called border, have been transported to Tskhinvali prison.
The Georgian State Security Service has denied illegal “borderisation” in the village of Kobi in Khashuri Municipality near occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region. However, it said, Russian occupation forces continue provocative activities along the villages of Chorchana and Tsagveli.
Leader of the anti-occupation movement Power is in Unity David Katsarava, who frequently patrolls the occupation line, has been charged with violence for an incident that took place in the summer of 2019.
Russia’s activities and its occupation of Georgian territories remain major threats to state security, the 2019 report of the Georgian State Security Service reads.