On September 23, the 108th Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRM) meeting was held in the village of Ergneti, near the occupation line of Tskhinvali.

The EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, a co-facilitator of the IPRM meetings with the OSCE, announced after the meeting that they welcomed the temporary opening of checkpoints. Also, they positively assessed the statement of the Ossetian side on the temporary opening of two checkpoints during the last ten days of each month until the end of 2022. They again repeated the call for complete restoration of freedom of movement along the "administrative border."

Co-facilitators from the EU Monitoring Mission and OSCE, Marek Schiegel and Ambassador Viorel Moshanu, took into account the readiness of the meeting participants to discuss further steps in this direction. They drew attention to the situation of the population affected by the conflict. They highlighted the difficulties they face, especially for women, children, and the elderly.

The co-facilitators also positively assessed the release of illegally detained Georgian citizens from occupied Tskhinvali and called for a humanitarian approach to the cases of the detainees.

According to the same information, the participants of the meeting also discussed other issues that have a negative impact on the citizens living near the occupation line, among them - illiteracy, continuous "borderization," as well as access to irrigation and drinking water, etc. The co-facilitators urged the participants of the meeting to be non-confrontational. They also emphasized the importance of using the hotline to ease tensions and strengthen trust.

According to the State Security Service (SSS) of Georgia, the representatives of the central government demanded the "unconditional and immediate release" of illegally detained persons with "special strictness."

According to the same information, the participants also spoke about the situation in the territory surrounding Chorchana village of Khashuri municipality and the occupied Tsnelisi village. "The representatives of the central government again confirmed that the standard police checkpoint, which is designed to provide a safe environment, will continue to operate as usual."

"The discussion covered the current increase in the scale of movement at the checkpoints. Also, the issues related to the supply of both drinking and sewage water in the villages along the occupation line were discussed," - the SSS statement says.

With the same information, the participants also discussed all the important incidents and illegal actions observed in the occupied region and along the occupation line since the previous meeting, including the illegal cases of borderization that "extremely damage the security environment, threaten the security of the local indigenous population and restrict free movement along the occupation line."

According to the report by Res agency (Ossetian news outlet), the representative of the occupied Tskhinvali region, Igor Kochiev, said that one of the main topics discussed by the Ossetian side at the meeting was the issue of the Chorchana-Tsnelisi police checkpoint, which is "the most important" for the Ossetian side.

"The Georgian post still remains in the territory of South Ossetia. Work is underway in this direction, and we hope that [the issue] will be resolved as we need it," he argued. Kochiev also added that violations of the Tskhinvali "state border" continue, and the Ossetian side is taking appropriate measures. "There are violations due to ignorance, but also on purpose," he added.