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Occupied Tskhinvali to Soften Movement Restrictions for Akhalgori Residents

So called "security council" meeting in Tskhinvali. Photo: presidentruo.org

The Moscow-backed leadership of occupied Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia announced on December 2 that residents of Akhalgori Municipality, who have neither “South Ossetian nor Russian citizenship” and need medical aid that Tskhinvali cannot provide, will be able to cross the Odzisi-Mosabruni (“Razdakhani” in Ossetian) crossing point and move to Tbilisi-controlled territory for medical treatment.

They will also be provided with “necessary conditions” to receive pensions until they get registered in “the pension fund of South Ossetia.”

The decision was made at the today’s session of the “security council” chaired by Russia-backed Tskhinvali leader Anatoly Bibilov about three months after the closure of the crossing points connecting the occupied region with Georgia proper, citing tensions coming from Tbilisi.

Amid Chorchana-Tsnelisi crisis, Odzisi crossing point, serving occupied Akhalgori Municipality, more half of its residents being ethnic Georgians, has been closed since early September too. According to the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), in normal days, Odzisi crossing point serves 400 persons daily.

Tbilisi, Co-Chairs of Geneva International Discussions and international organizations have called on Tskhinvali for multiple times to reopen the crossing points to avoid humanitarian crisis on the ground.

In late October, amid crossing point closure, Margo Martiashvili, ethnic Georgian resident of Akhalgori Municipality, died in Tskhinvali hospital after allegedly suffering from a stroke. It took the emergency vehicle from occupied Tskhinvali three hours to transfer Martiashvili to hospital, whereas it would have taken some 45 minutes drive to reach Tbilisi, Georgian capital.

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