Meeting in Ergneti between representatives of Georgia and De Facto Government of South Ossetia

Lado Bitchashvili, Shida Kartli

The 56th meeting of Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism held in Ergneti, started with the accusations from Ossetia. The representatives of de facto Government of South Ossetia warned Georgian side, that in order to avoid provocations, representatives of law enforcement agencies who stand on the occupation border, should abstain from moving to occupied territory. Otherwise, the head of the delegation of de facto Government of South Ossetia, Khokh Gagloiti, does not exclude the possibility of armed conflict. 

Employees of MIA approached the occupied territory, fields of Ditsi, when Russian “border guards” arrested 36-year-old Gocha Beruashvili, who was moving within this territory by tractor. Russian soldiers took the tractor together with Beruashvili. 

Georgian side has raised the issue of releasing Gocha Beruashvili, who was arrested with the charges of abrogating the border line, and 6 other citizens who remain in the isolator of Tskhinvali. The head of delegation of de facto Government of Tskhinvali, Khokh Gagloit said that, during last month, they have released 18 Georgian citizens out of 20, who were arrested with the charges of illegally crossing the demarcation line, after they paid the fine imposed by Tskhinvali Court. 

“Territory of South Ossetia begins with wire obstacles, crossing the territory means crossing the independent border. 20 citizens have been arrested during last month because of crossing the border. 18 of them were released after the payment of fine,”- said the head of delegation of de facto Government of South Ossetia, Khokh Gagloit. 

At the meeting, before discussing humanitarian issues, the representatives of Georgian Government requested suspension of demarcation process, which takes place on the occupation line. The representatives of Ossetia said that since 2013, demarcation process has been suspended by making wire obstacles. Head of Analytical Department of MIA responded to this statement of the representative of de facto Government of South Ossetia. 

“We have received an interesting answer, as if after 2013 they have not been setting up the wire obstacles. This is not true. We have documental evidence, which can prove that this process is still going on fragmentary,”- said the head of Analytical Department of Mia, Shalva Enukidze. 

The subject that was agreed by both parties was related to irrigation canal of Tiriponi, which provides water for Gori district and villages remaining in the occupied territory. The representatives of de facto Government of South Ossetia took the responsibility for cleaning the part of the canal, which is on the uncontrolled territory, in exchange, Georgia will provide irrigation water for the villages that are remained in the occupied territory.