Tbilisi speculations over Tskhinval reinforcing its border unacceptable

Tbilisi whipping up emotions over Tskhinval’s lawful actions to reinforce its state border cannot be accepted, Grigory Karasin, state secretary and deputy foreign minister of the Russian Federation, said in a telephone conversation with Philippe Lefort, the European Union Special Representative (EUSR) for the South Caucasus. The parties discussed preparations and prospects for the adoption by participants in the Geneva debates on Transcaucasia of the joint statement on non-use of force, said a source in the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday. Karasin pointed out to the EUSR that Tbilisi had intensified provocations in the area of the border with South Ossetia. “Propaganda hysteria is whipped up over entirely lawful actions of the Tskhinval authorities to reinforce the border,” Karasin said. “It is falsely claimed that the borderline had been moved to Georgian territory. Georgian police are involved in staging so-called ‘local protests’ with their subsequent biased coverage by the mass media, as was the case near the populated locality of Ditsi on September 17. The ballyhoo was started in the recent days over measures in the area of settlement Dvani,” Karasin noted. “Georgian leaders are, naturally, annoyed at Tskhinval’s planned measures in the recent years to ensure the effective regime on the state border with the assistance of Russian border guards,” the high-ranking Russian diplomat stressed. “The Georgian authorities are unwilling to recognize the irreversibility of the consequences of Saakashvili’s military venture of August 2008. But deliberate whipping up of emotions, political speculations on this theme are unacceptable. They are fraught with serious consequences for regional stability,” he noted. Hope was expressed on the part of the Russian side that the EUSR and observers from the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia would restrain the Georgian authorities from irresponsible steps in the border areas, particularly in the current pre-election situation in the country.” The Russian Foreign Ministry holds that practical aspects of the South Ossetian - Georgian border regime must be discussed calmly and constructively in the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism used effectively in the area.