On September 12, the 121th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism meeting was held in Ergneti (in the vicinity of the Tskhinvali occupation line). The meeting was co-facilitated by the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus, Viorel Moşanu, and the Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), Bettina Patricia Boughani. The meeting comes amid reports of continued illegal “borderization” by the Russian occupation forces.
EUMM Statement
According to the EUMM statement, the participants “discussed challenges faced by the conflict-affected populations, in particular ‘borderization’ activities, restrictions to their freedom of movement, as well as incidents and the overall security situation on the ground.”
During the meeting, both co-facilitators voiced concern over the “continued practice of detentions and advocated for the release of all detainees” and also noted that “the full re-opening of crossing points would benefit women, men, children, and elderly people on both sides of the Administrative Boundary Line.”
The EUMM said that the participants “acknowledged the effective cooperation on irrigation, highlighting the crucial role of the EUMM hotline in enabling swift and accurate information exchange on water levels and resolving related issues,” expressing gratitude to the EUMM monitoring water levels throughout the irrigation season. The co-facilitators emphasized the importance of further advancing work in this regard, including through technical meetings.
“The participants agreed to convene the next regular IPRM meeting on 12 November 2024. Additionally, a separate technical meeting on irrigation and access to water will be convened in November to review lessons from the past irrigation season and plan for future work,” the EUMM statement said.
Statement by SSSG
The SSSG issued a statement, according to which the representatives of the Georgian government raised the issue of the illegally detained persons with “particular strictness.”
“The facts of so-called borderization and other illegal activities carried out at the occupation line were strictly condemned. A discussion was held on the humanitarian needs of the local indigenous population living along the occupation line and the possibilities of their solution,” the SSSG said in the statement.
SSSG Comment
Following the meeting, the Deputy Director of the Analytical Department of the State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG), Irakli Antadze told journalists there were eight cases of illegal “borderization” in the period since the last IPRM Ergneti meeting in July, which were discussed in “detail” at the meeting. Also, according to him, there were six instances of illegal detentions during the same period.
In response to a question about the reduction of information published by the SSSG on developments around the occupation line, Antadze explained that five out of six cases of illegal detentions were not disclosed “to protect the best interests” of the illegally detained persons. He said that the reduction of information had nothing to do with the upcoming Parliamentary elections in Georgia.
He also announced that a Georgian citizen illegally detained by the occupation forces, Lasha Khetereli would be released on September 13. Khetereli was illegally detained in July last year. Another nine citizens of Georgia remain in illegal custody.
Statement by Tskhinvali Representative
The de-facto Tskhinvali once again demanded the removal of Tsnelisi-Chorchana police checkpoint. “As a rule, we mention this post every time. Negotiations on this are underway, and I want to say that they are quite difficult. However, we have no right not to talk about this problem. We will make sure that this illegal police post is removed from the South Ossetian territory,” Moscow-backed Tskhinvali representative Igor Kochiev said.
According to the de-facto authorities, the discussion also touched upon the issue of UAVs. He said: “When we report a UAV’s flight through the hotline and the Georgian side attempts to identify it, the drone either leaves South Ossetian airspace or lands, possibly in Georgian territory, making it quite challenging to confirm the fact of the flight.” He added that “it is indirectly confirmed that the UAVs belong to the Georgian side, as the Georgian segment of social networks is full of photos of South Ossetian territory,” claiming that the photos are taken from the Georgian government controlled territory.
This article was updated on September 13 at 17:18 to reflect the positions of the SSSG and the de-facto Tskhinvali authorities.
