Russia Urges Georgia Raise its Citizens’ Awareness of ‘Border Lines’
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, October 22
Spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova says that the Georgian government should take measures to raise the awareness of its citizens regarding the locations of “border lines” as this will decrease the cases of detentions for illegal crossing of the border.
Zakharova claims that many Georgians may not know where the “border lines” are located between Georgia and its occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, which lead to violations and detentions.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has responded that the statement is “cynical” and that the only way to descale the situation in the Georgian two occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) is Russia to withdraw its troops.
“Russia must meet the ceasefire agreement signed in 2008, in the wake of the Russia-Georgia war, and withdraw its troops form historic Georgian lands,” the Georgian MFA said.
The ministry reported that the statement is an attempt by Russia to justify the illegal detentions of the Georgian conflict-affected population, their abduction, ethnic discrimination, torture, inhumane and abusive treatment.
“The local population is deprived of the right to move freely in their own country and have access to their gardens and agricultural lands,” Konstantinidi said.
“The continued provocative actions of Russia on the territory of Georgia confirm the need for international security mechanisms on the ground,” Georgian MFA says.
Russia-controlled forces abduct Georgian citizens in nearly every week and in most cases release them after paying a fine which amounts to 30-32 USD.
Most of the Georgian citizens are abducted from their own yards or agricultural lands, from the Tbilisi-administered territory.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent countries after the Russia-Georgia war.
According to the information released by Georgian NGO IDFI, which it received from the State Security Service of Georgia, in the years 2009-2015 the occupational forces have detained a total number of 2,481 Georgian citizens for the so-called “illegal border crossing” of which 1, 641 were detained by occupational forces in Abkhazia and 840 people were detained in Occupational forces in Tskhinvali region.
