Barbed Wire Fence Renovated on Occupation Line at Dzukaantkari

Residents of the villages Dzukaantkari and Khurvaleti noticed that new illegal barbed wire fences were being constructed overnight alongside the occupation line of Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) late last week and over the weekend. The men errecting the barbed wire quickly disappeared as media crews and police began arriving on the scene. Barbed wire initially renovated in November of last year near Dzukaantkari was also reenforced with additionally wire. The 2018 renovations replaced older barriers with newer, more sturdy barriers. The barbed wire fences cut through the middle of villages, even gardens. 

This news comes just days after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called on the Russian Federation to immediately stop the erection of barbed wire fences and artificial barriers along the occupation line with Georgia’s breakaway regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia on January 24.

On Twitter, Danish diplomat and head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, Erik Hoeg, wrote: "#EUMM patrols have regularly monitored fencing in the area in Khurvaleti for the past week. We continue addressing 'borderization' along the entire length of ABLs with both Abkhazia and South Ossetia"

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: Erik Hoeg

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