Illegal Border Crossings From Georgia to Abkhazia, S.Ossetia Prove Talks Needed - Moscow

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2020) The increasing number of illegal border crossings from Georgia to Abkhazia and South Ossetia indicate that there is a need in negotiations on border delimitation between Tbilisi and the self-declared republics, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"Frequent border incidents once again confirm the importance of early negotiations between Tbilisi, Sukhum and Tskhinval on delimitation and demarcation of the border, as well as on a joint legally binding statement on the non-use of force," the ministry said in a statement.

The foreign ministry also mentioned several cases of illegal border crossings by Georgian citizens, including two incidents in Russia's Dagestan Republic, one incident in Abkhazia and another case in South Ossetia. In one of such incidents, a 33-years-old Georgian national opened fire on Russian border troops stationed there and was lightly injured when soldiers fired back.

All incidents resulted in the detentions of Georgian citizens by border troops.

The ministry called on Georgia to refrain from "baseless accusations" that Russia is engaged in border provocations. Moscow also urged Tbilisi to use all communication channels for negotiations with Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In addition, Russia called on Georgian authorities to prevent further illegal border crossings.

Separately, the Russian foreign ministry condemned provocative comments from the US State Department and the embassy of the United States in Tbilisi which blamed Moscow and South Ossetia for alleged provocations.

There are currently no diplomatic relations between Russia and Georgia, the dialogue between the countries has been maintained as part of the Geneva discussions held since 2012 in Prague. Relations between the two countries were broken by Tbilisi after Moscow recognized the sovereignty of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008.