Georgian, Ukrainian Presidents Visit Occupation Line
Within the framework of the official visit to Georgia, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, accompanied by his Georgian counterpart, Giorgi Margvelashvili, visited the occupation line that divides occupied South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) from the rest of Georgia.
At the occupation line village Odzisi the Head of the Analytical Department of the State Security Service of Georgia provided the presidents with the information about the existing situation at the breakaway Tskhinvali.
Poroshenko got interested in the humanitarian situation at the occupied region, including access to education and healthcare services for the population living in the occupied region.
He compared the situation in the occupied region of Georgia to the current situation in Donbass.
Afterwards the presidents visited village Khutvaleti, and barbed wire fences, installed by the occupants.
"We have a similar situation in Ukraine and Georgia…The situation is hopeless in the occupied territories, there is humanitarian catastrophe. I think we need a political-diplomatic path - the unity of the whole world, solidarity to Georgia and Ukraine. Russia is isolated and it will be forced to take steps to de-occupy our territories,” Poroshenko stressed.
He added that he visited Georgia to express Ukraine's clear support for Georgia's territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty.
“This is not an occupation line, this is not a division line. This is an abyss between the past and the future of Georgia. This is the result of the Russian aggression,” said Poroshenko.
Giorgi Margvelashvili condemned Russia’s occupation policy and claimed that Georgians and Ukrainians will be able to destroy artificial obstacles that divide people from each-other.
“Our states will be as sovereign and independent as they are recognized by all the countries in the world, except one state – Russia,” Georgian President noted.
Лінія розмежування у Цхінвальському регіоні - навіть не лінія зіткнення, це прірва між минулим і майбутнім, результат політики окупації РФ pic.twitter.com/QNu2y4d4ji
— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) July 19, 2017
By Thea Morrison