Georgia and South Ossetia resume talks on border situation

After a seven-month-long break, officials of Georgia and South Ossetia have held a meeting within the format of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRMs). The head of the South-Ossetian delegation has called the liquidation of the Georgian block-post near the village of Tsnelis a precondition for settling the conflict. In its turn, Georgia insists on the release of those convicted of crossing the border.

Meetings in the IPRMs format have been suspended since July 30, 2020; and on March 5, the South-Ossetian party presented in Ergneti an overview of the seven months of border incidents. "Once again, the South-Ossetian party voiced out a demand to remove the illegally set up block-post of the Georgian police near the village of Uista (Tsnelis), and withdraw all the armed policemen from the South-Ossetian territory," says the message of the press service of the office of the South-Ossetian Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy for Post-Conflict Settlement," the "Sputnik South Ossetia" reports.

The main demand of the Georgian party is the release of all those detained on the demarcation line with South Ossetia. According to Georgian authorities, four detained Georgian citizens are currently kept in Tskhinvali.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 5, 2021 at 05:21 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.