|
"Reuters"
November, 9th 2008
TBILISI (Reuters) - South Ossetian security forces have moved into a Georgian village outside the borders of the breakaway region, Georgian officials said, drawing warnings from EU officials monitoring their cease-fire. The village of Perevi has been controlled by Russian forces since a five-day war in August. Russian troops pulled back from a buffer zone around South Ossetia in early October, but maintained one checkpoint in Perevi.
Georgian security officials said the Russians had begun pulling out on Saturday, and dozens of South Ossetian "militiamen" had moved in to replace them.
A senior Georgian police officer in the region told Reuters on Sunday that police had been placed on standby. "Now we're waiting for some kind of assistance from the EU monitors." He said around 10 Russian soldiers remained in the village.
More than 200 unarmed European Union monitors are observing the tense cease-fire, which has been strained by accusations of border attacks and kidnappings from both sides since the Russian pullback.
Russia intervened in ex-Soviet Georgia in early August to halt a Georgian military bid to retake pro-Russian South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.
Under Western pressure, Russian forces pulled back to within South Ossetia and the second breakaway region of Abkhazia, but the Kremlin recognised both regions as independent states.
The EU mission said it was concerned about the situation in Perevi and called on all sides "to prevent provocations."
The mission said in a statement the Russian forces had persistently refused to remove the Perevi checkpoint despite the fact it is located west of the boundary line.
"Evidence on the ground seems moreover to suggest that Russian military forces will be replaced by forces of the South Ossetian de facto authorities," said the statement.
"This would further exacerbate tensions to the detriment of the civilian population in and around the village of Perevi."
Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said around 1,100 people live in Perevi, and warned of a possible exodus. "This is a continuation of ethnic cleansing," he said.
(Reporting by Matt Robinson and Margarita Antidze; editing by Matthew Jones) |
