De facto authorities accuse Georgia of violating 'border' with the MIA's flying machine
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, December 11
The de-facto security committee of the Tskhinvali region occupied by Russia, on December 7-9, accused the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Georgia in continuing of strengthening its positions near the village of Usta in the Znauri district. The de facto authorities cite the village of Tsnelis, which is bordered by a Georgian police checkpoint near the forest of Chorchani in Khashuri municipality.
According to the de-facto Security Committee, the MIA of Georgia regularly conducts ground intelligence using UAVs and quadcopters. The same committee alleges that on December 7 the UAV violated the "South Ossetian state border" from the village of Kodi to the village of Lopani.
The statement of the de facto security committee said: "The State Security Committee points to the inadmissibility of such actions by Georgian law enforcement agencies and draws the attention of all interested parties on December 8 to the destruction of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Quadrocopter by the units of the Luhansk People's Republic militia.”
Tskhinvali occupation regime demands from the MIA of Georgia from late August to take over the lawfully opened police checkpoint in the village of Chorchana of Khashuri municipality.
After Tbilisi's refusal, the de facto authorities seized two so-called border checkpoints deployed near the village of Tschelisi near Chorchana, in the territory controlled by the Central Government of Georgia. In addition, the so-called border crossings were closed near Akhalgori and Sachkhere districts. The blockade of the road connecting with the rest of Georgia has caused a humanitarian crisis in the occupied Akhalgori district. In order to de-escalate the situation, 7 technical meetings have been held in recent months under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, which the parties have failed to reach an agreement on.
It’s noteworthy that 4 Georgian citizens were detained by Russian Occupation forces in Kaspi municipality on December 7. The State Security Service of Georgia confirmed the information
As of now, 3 of 4 detainees remain in custody. One of them, 15-year-old Avtandil Gamkhitashvili, who was together with his father during the detention, was then released, while 3 detainees were transferred to Tskhinvali.
Reportedly, Emzar and Merab Gamkhitashvilis and Giorgi Zaridze, residents of the villages of Bojami and Lamiskana, were searching for firewood near the dividing line.
The Agency reported that a hotline has been activated and the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) has been informed about the fact of illegal detention.
The illegal detention of Georgian citizens by Russian occupation forces near the occupation line is a common issue. Detainees are usually released after their families have to pay a fine. The standard fine is about $31.
According to the Georgian State Security Service, the occupying forces in the 2 Russia-controlled Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali have detained 327 Georgian citizens for “illegally crossing the border” between 2017 and 2019.
