Georgian security service deputy head, Red Cross officials discuss conflict issues, ties

Aleksi Batiashvili, the first deputy head of the Georgian state security service, on Wednesday discussed issues around the conflict-affected territories of the country and cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross with Daniel Mac Sweeney, the Red Cross incumbent envoy on missing persons in the Caucasus, and his future replacement Agnes Coutou.

• Georgian PM thanks Red Cross ‘for its important work’ in Georgia, occupied regions

The meeting hosted in Tbilisi stressed the “severe humanitarian situation” in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions, with the parties emphasising the need for “unrestricted access” of ICRC to the territories, the state service said. 

The discussion also noted the organisation’s role in the search and identification of remains of persons missing from conflicts in Georgia. ICRC involvement has resulted in the remains of 211 missing persons from conflicts in the 1990s and the Russia-Georgia war of 2008 being successfully identified and handed over to their families to date.

Agnes Coutou (L) to replace Daniel Mac Sweeney as the Red Cross envoy on missing persons in the Caucasus. Photo: state security service press office. 

• Gov’t welcomes move of Red Cross, Red Crescent to build a logistics hub in Georgia

The sides also highlighted the general “effective cooperation” between Georgia and the organisation and pointed to the importance of  “unconditional release” of illegally arrested Georgian citizens by de facto authorities in the occupied regions. 

• The Doomed Flight is Agenda.ge's multimedia project about the victims and survivors of the Babushera tragedy, which is one episode of the Abkhaz war

Recent reports by the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia - the only international mission observing activities adjacent to the Russian-occupied regions - have indicated four Georgian citizens to be currently detained in Tskhinvali and two others in Sokhumi, the Abkhazian regional capital.