NGO: ‘residents of Russian-occupied Akhalgori granted Ossetian citizenship to receive pensions’
DRI has called upon the Georgian government to develop a new state programme of different financial assistance for each pensioner living in the occupied territories. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Residents of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district have to receive Ossetian passports in order to get pensions, reports the Democracy Research Institute (DRI) NGO.
Several pensioners have already been granted Ossetian citizenship under a simplified procedure in Akhalgori district.
Due to the closed borders between Akhalgori and the rest of Georgia, people living in the region are not able to enter Tbilisi-controlled territory.
Georgian citizens living in Russian-occupied territories have been faced with a difficult choice. They have to give up Georgian citizenship in order to have elementary conditions for living. Their choice of getting Ossetian passports was preceded by a less effective policy of the Georgian government, which failed to provide assistance to one of the most vulnerable groups – retirees living in the occupied territories”, reads the official statement of DRI.
DRI has called upon the Georgian government to develop a new state programme of different financial assistance for each pensioner living in the occupied territories.
Russian-controlled Tskhinvali closed the last, Kartsmani crossing point in Sachkhere municipality, connecting the region with the rest of Georgia ‘to prevent the spread of coronavirus’ on February 27, 2020.
The de facto authorities closed Razdakhani and Sinaguri crossing points in early September of 2019, creating a severe humanitarian situation on the ground.
Civic activist Tamar Mearakishvili, who lives in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district, says that up to 10 people in the area have died due to delayed medical aid or other reasons related to the illegal closure of crossing points between breakaway Tskhinvali and the rest of Georgia 131 days ago.
Georgian Foreign Ministry David Zalkaliani has stated that the humanitarian crisis in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions [of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali] is one of the major challenges for the government, responding to the recent death of a woman in Tskhinvali due to the closed ‘checkpoint” with the breakaway region. He again raised the issue while meeting with the US Department of States Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center Lea Gabrielle earlier today.
Margo Martiashvili, who suffered a stroke in the Russian-controlled Akhalgori district, has died earlier today in the hospital of occupied Tskhinvali as her relatives were unable to transport her to the Tbilisi-controlled territory via the shortest route due to the closure of the so-called border.
De facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region say that the tension at the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi will be eased only if and after Tbilisi removes a police post in Chocrhana, located on the territory which is under the control of the central Georgian government.
Vera Kotolova, a teacher from Georgia’s Russian-occupied Akhalgori district who suffered serious health issues, has died as she was denied entry to Tbilisi-controlled territory for treatment. Akhalgori municipality governor Nugzar Tinikashvili says that it is not the first time locals in the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region have died due to low quality medical aid in the region and being unable to receive permission to travel to Tbilisi-controlled territory by the de facto authorities.
The Democracy Research Institute says a teacher in a Georgian school in Akhalgori was arrested a few days ago on charges of ‘collaborating with the Georgian security forces’ and of providing information to the Georgian side about the Russian military forces.
The de facto authorities of the Russian-occupied Akhalgori municipality in central Georgia have opened crossings to the location over the administrative boundary line separating Georgian-controlled territory from the occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region, Interpressnews reported on Thursday.