The police post illegally put up by the Georgian authorities near the village of Tsnelis (Uista) continues to exacerbate the situation in the region as a whole, despite the attempts by the South Ossetian side to defuse the situation, Presidential Envoy to South Ossetia for post conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev told IA “Res ".
“From our point of view, the situation in the region can be defused only with the removal of the illegal roadblock in Tsnelis,” said Dzhioev. “. At the same time, the Georgian side continues not only to maintain it, but also strengthens its posts along the entire perimeter of the border We for our part, are taking all the necessary measures to keep the situation calm, thereby relieving tension. According to incoming information, the Georgian police in this area is of concern not only to the South Ossetian side, but also to local Georgian population of the Khashur district living in the territory adjacent to the border. "
Skirmish in the village of Koda
According to the available information, there are already several cases of clashes between the Georgian police and local residents.
“People don’t understand the need for these posts and why there are so many policemen in their villages,” said Dzhioev. “For our part, as we know, we are holding technical meetings as part of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism in order to defuse the situation "Our position is clear - the illegal Georgian post should be removed, and after that we can talk about making the area between the South Ossetian village of Tsnelis and the Georgian village of Chorchana a safe zone."
Earlier, the KGB of South Ossetia commented on the armed incident in the Georgian village of Koda, which occurred between the Georgian Interior Ministry and the local Georgian population. According to the agency, immediately after the incident residents of the village of Koda were pressured by representatives of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs "in order to force them to testify that the shootout was allegedly connected with the penetration of the South Ossetian intelligence group into the Georgian territory."
Murat Dzhioev, in turn, said that South Ossetian border guards who serve on the borders of South Ossetia, in no way ever cross the border.
“Accordingly, our border guards could not participate in any shootout. According to the information that came to us and international observers, it was an intra-Georgian conflict,” the diplomat explained.
Mediation of international observers
The Plenipotentiary also touched upon the mediation of international observers in the discussion of problematic issues at the border.
"All meetings within the framework of the IPRM are held with the participation of the European Union and the OSCE observer missions, so we try to keep them up to date with all the events, we constantly draw their attention to each case that requires an appropriate response," Dzhioev emphasized. -"The so-called “hot line” is actively working within the framework of the IPRM. It’s another matter that the position of observers is such that they recognize, as they say, the territorial integrity of Georgia, and proceed from this.”
The diplomat has noted that representatives of the Observer Mission exercise their powers only in the territory of Georgia adjacent to South Ossetia.
“That is, they cannot and do not enter the territory of our Republic,” the Envoy emphasized. “And if there are cases when they approach the border, we accordingly inform them that this is unacceptable.”
Discussion of problematic issues under the IPRM will continue
According to the Plenipotentiary, the discussion of issues related to security on the state border of South Ossetia with Georgia will continue at the next meeting within the framework of the IPRM.
“Our position is that problematic issues should be resolved only through peaceful diplomatic means, so we continue to take all diplomatic efforts so that the dialogue does not break off,” the Ambassador said. “In the near future there will be another meeting within the framework of the IPRM, we call such meetings technical, because they discuss only one issue related to the removal of the roadblock in the village of Tsnelis To date, the main task of this format is to defuse the situation in the Tsnelis area."
Murat Dzhioev has added that Georgian media often use the expression “the situation near Chorchana” when speaking about the situation in the village of Uista.
“This is all done to deceive the international community, and even Georgian society, because in fact this post is located literally a few hundred meters from the South Ossetian village of Tsnelis and 4 kilometers from the Georgian village. That is, the Georgian post is illegally located in South Ossetia, in comparative proximity from the South Ossetian village, "said the Envoy.
