Working groups meet again on Georgian-South-Ossetian border

Today, the Georgian village of Dvani, near the border with South Ossetia, has hosted another meeting within the mechanism for warning and prevention of border incidents. Delegates from South Ossetia have again accused Georgia of violating the airspace by unmanned aircrafts; while the Georgian party has categorically denied the charges.

The today's session was attended by representatives of Russia, South Ossetia, Georgia and the EU and the OSCE Monitoring Mission in Georgia headed by Andrzej Tyszkiewicz.

According to the South-Ossetian party, since the last meeting there were 14 registered cases of illegal border crossing. Of them 10 were from Georgia to South Ossetia, and four - in the reverse direction: from South Ossetia to Georgia.

Merab Chigoev, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of President of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO) for Post-Conflict Settlement, has explained that "in the 10 above cases 18 infringers were citizens of Georgia, one - Russian citizen and three - citizens of the RSO.

He added that in recent time they also registered four violations of South-Ossetian airspace by Georgia unmanned aircrafts (two of them - over the city of Kvaisa) and 20 facts of observation of the territory of South Ossetia by observers of the EU mission in Georgia, the IA "Res" reports.

However, Shota Utiashvili, the head of the analytical department of the MIA of Georgia, has treated at the meeting the accusations moved by the Ossetian party of Georgia sending drones across the border as absurd.

He also said that the parties had reached an agreement on protection of peasants who work along the border. According to his story, a mechanism will be designed to safeguard these people and their crops.

The new head of EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM) Andrzej Tyszkiewicz is optimistic about the current format of negotiations. "With each successive meeting it will be easier to solve specific problems of the people living there, and of their security," the "Echo of the Caucasus" quotes Mr Tyszkiewicz as saying.

The next meeting will be held in Dvani on October 20.