The South Ossetian side has repeatedly proposed and continues to offer Georgia to begin joint work on delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the two countries, said the Presidential Envoy of South Ossetia for post-conflict settlement, Murat Dzhioev.
"From our point of view, this is an important factor in ensuring security in the border areas, - said Dzhioev. - But since the Georgian side is not going to talk to us about this issue again, we are unilaterally working on the designation of the border line."
The Envoy has noted that in the areas of South Ossetia adjacent to the state border, since the previous round, there have not been any major excesses that could complicate the situation, that is, since March 2018, "nevertheless, we are constantly dealing with violations of the state border by Georgia."
"The South Ossetian side called upon the representatives of the Georgian side and the EU mission observers at the Geneva discussions to take all possible steps to prevent deliberate violations of the border," Dzhioev said.
The South Ossetian diplomat drew attention to the provocative actions of the clergymen of the Georgian Orthodox Church who tried to hold services in the vicinity of the village of Adzisar in the Tskhinval district of South Ossetia.
"On the day when St. George's Day is celebrated in the Orthodox world, an attempt was made by the Georgian metropolitan to hold service in the church on the territory of South Ossetia," Dzhioev said. "We made it clear that this would be an illegal, deliberate violation of the border, which the South Ossetian side could not admit." Nevertheless, a large number of people gathered. And if there were no visible presence of our border guards, the EU mission observers, as well as the Georgian police, perhaps this mass of people would have penetrated illegally into our territory. "
According to the Presidential Envoy, the South Ossetian delegation in Geneva designated these facts as a deliberate provocative activity of the Georgian church.
"Also speaking of security, we drew attention to other issues that complicate the situation, including ongoing, so-called excursions to the border, which the Georgian authorities arrange for their foreign guests," added Dzhioev.
