Georgia condemns erection of new border checkpoint in South Ossetia

Law enforcers have set up their checkpoint at a distance of less than two kilometres from the Georgian one, which became the subject of a border conflict. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has treated this as a compulsion to border demarcation. The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe) has supported Georgia by opposing the bordering process.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the South-Ossetian Parliament treated the erection of a checkpoint by Georgian military servicemen in the vicinity of the village of Tsnelis as an act of aggression. In its turn, the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia stated that the new block-post is located near the village of Chorchana, which is covered by Georgian jurisdiction. However, South Ossetia disagreed with this and opened a criminal case on a border violation.

The Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has treated the fact that the South-Ossetian law enforcers "had occupied a height near the village of Chorchana" and began erecting a border checkpoint there as unacceptable, the "News-Georgia" reports.

The OSCE Permanent Council has condemned "the construction of fences de facto by authorities of South Ossetia with the support of Russian border guards." In the opinion of the OSCE, this "impedes the freedom of local residents' travel and deprives them of access to their main sources of livelihood – the orchards and water resources," the "Georgia Online" reports.

"It is outrageous that human rights and the humanitarian situation in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are deteriorating again," the OSCE has noted.