22:13, 17 September 2013

Conflict of locals with Russian border guards burst out near Georgian village of Ditsi

A clash between locals and Russian border guards who are installing barbed wire happened near the Georgian village of Ditsi, Zakaria Vatikadze, the attorney of the Ditsi territorial body, said today.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that, according to the Georgian party, on May 27, Russian border guards, who were stretching barbed wire near the villages of Ditsi, Gori District, and Dvani, Kareli District, adjacent to South Ossetia, moved the border line by about 300 meters towards the Shida Kartli region.

Georgian villagers stated that the border line set up by the authorities of South Ossetia and Russian border guards had separated their houses and cut them off from their land plots.

To assess the circumstances of the conflict, the region was visited by the European Union's Monitoring Mission (EUMM) of the European Union, which fixed the erection of fencing.

According to Zakaria Vatikadze, today, a Russian border guard who was stretching the barbed wire insulted one of the locals; after which the guards drove the local residents away from the area.

The information about what happened near the village of Ditsi was confirmed by the EUMM in Georgia.