On 30 August in the morning, Egor Kochiev, the de-facto official of the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) gave an ultimatum to the Georgian police to dismantle their troops from the checkpoint located near the village of Chorchana in Khashuri Municipality. This occurred after negotiations within the Incidents Prevention and Response Mechanism (IRPM) failed.
On 29 August, the representatives of Georgia, Russia and the separatist Tskhinvali region gathered in the village of Ergneti in order to discuss current developments in the occupied region. There were a variety of discussed topics, including the illegal ‘borderisation’ in the village of Gugutiantkari, Gori Municipality, which is in the vicinity of the Tskhinvali region and the movement of Russian occupation forces near the village of Chorchana, Khashuri Municipality, also near the Tskhinvali region. Representatives also conversed about the destruction of residential houses in Eredvi village and installation of a waste dump in the area by Russian occupation forces along with the torture and murder of the Georgian national hero Archil Tatunashvili. The Russian and the separatist delegations left the negotiations due to the Georgian side refusing to dismantle their police force near the occupation line.
Erik Høeg, the Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) said that the recent developments along the occupation line “had negatively impacted the overall security situation, in particular relating to the recent, highly-concerning occurrences in the Gugutiantkari and Tsnelisi areas” and made it impossible to complete the discussions in that atmosphere.
Afterwards the units of KGB (State Security Committee of the separatist region) and OMON (special police units of Federal Police within the National Guard of Russia) were deployed in Znauri district nearby the Georgian police unit, creating a tense situation.
According to the separatist authorities and the Russian officials, the Georgian government does not want to establish conditions for non-resumption of Georgian-Ossetian armed conflict. They said that statements by the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions, EU and OSCE regarding the current situation were unacceptable.
The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its concern about the mobilization of military equipment and personnel by the occupation forces at the occupation line and called the international community to respond to the situation. “Georgia fully complies with the undertaken commitments, firmly pursues a peaceful conflict resolution policy and uses all the available diplomatic instruments for the de-escalation of the situation and in order to cease the illegal processes. The Georgian side continues to inform the international community about the developments on the ground and works closely with the co-chairmen of the Geneva International Discussions, the EUMM and the diplomatic corps accredited in Tbilisi. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia appeals to the international community to give a due reaction to the illegal developments at the occupation line and take the relevant measures to ensure these actions are ceased,” the statement read.
The Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Lasha Darsalia said that the abolishment of the Georgian police checkpoint at Chorchana village in Khashuri Municipality was not even a subject of discussion. “This is, and has always been, a territory controlled by the central government of Georgia, as it is recorded, including by the European Union Monitoring Mission,” he said.
Luckily, the situation stabilized after the deadline of the ultimatum expired. The officials from Georgia, Russia and the separatist Tskhinvali regime are currently holding a technical meeting in order to de-escalate the tensions.
