South Ossetia accuses EU mission of intelligence activities

In the course of the trilateral meeting (Russia, Georgia, South Ossetia) within the Mechanisms for preventing and responding to incidents (MPRI), which was held on June 17 in the Georgian near-border village of Dhwani, the South Ossetian side focused attention on the "violations of the state border in Znaur District" and measures to prevent them.

The meeting paid particular attention to filing of South Ossetia residents' complaints to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, mutual transfer of detained citizens, violations of the state border, and illegal video and photo shooting, carried out by the European Union representatives, although it is not permitted by their mandate, noted an employee from the envoy's office.

"The territory of responsibility of the European Union representatives is solely the territory of Georgia, and this is evident from the mission's name: the "Mission of the European Union observers in Georgia." However, the EU observers reported that their mandate permits them to monitor and conduct video and photo shooting of the South Ossetian territory," informed the office of the South Ossetia presidential envoy on post-conflict reconciliation the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

In total, the South Ossetian and Russian border guards registered 51 cases of "intelligence activities of the European observers," said the interlocutor to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.