Presence of Occupant Forces on Georgian- controlled territory Not Confirmed
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, March 18
Official Tbilisi did not confirm the presence of the Russian soldiers on the Georgia-controlled territory at village Didi Khurvaleti, which lays at the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) of the Russian Occupied region of South Ossetia.
The information about the presence of the occupant forces in the village went viral when one of the locals wrote a Facebook post that a group of armed men entered the yards of several households in the outskirts of the village.
Soon after the information was spread, reporters arrived at the checkpoint on the Khurvaleti road, but they were not allowed by the Georgian police to approach the watchtower that has recently been built by the de facto authorities of Tskhinvali.
The State Security Service of Georgia denied the reports and called on everyone to refrain from making provocative statements.
Any activity of the occupation forces escalates the security environment on the ground," the agency said.
Eric Høeg, Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, also commented on the developments in Didi Khurvaleti.
"EUMM patrols are currently monitoring in the area of Didi Khurvaleti. No signs of new borderization activities. Security actors are present but we register no incidents. All mechanisms, including Hotline, are being used to ensure communication," Eric Høeg’s tweet reads.
Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, State Minister for Reconciliation and Civic Equality, told reporters that it is unacceptable to provoke a certain tension and panic.
"I want to ask everybody, including the media, to be cautious as much as possible under the situation when our territories are occupied. Unfortunately, there are Russian soldiers and our task in this situation is to prevent provocations, "said Tsikhelashvili.
