On 21 August, a part of the highland Abkhaz village Aibgha, located on the official Georgia-Russia border, has been registered as a part of Russian territory, reported agenda.ge.

The village is located in a district of the Abkhaz town of Gagra and opinions on which country it belongs to have been divided for years as the Russia-Georgia border separates it into two parts. The Georgian Foreign Ministry reports that Russia first put the village in its database in 2002 and repeated this in 2009, but the Georgian government at the time “did not react at all.” The Ministry stated the registration of the village as a part of Russia “is a continuation of the annexation of Georgian regions and the violation of the principles of international law.”

On the same day, a Russian MI-8 aircraft was sighted in the air around 12:00 near the village of Gugutiantkari. The aircraft spent several minutes above the occupied Tskhinvali region in the vicinity of Gugutiantkari before returning back to Russia. The State Security Service of Georgia declared the flight as a violation of the Georgian airspace and stated that the move was “yet another provocation by Russia”. It also informed the EU Monitoring mission.

The eight detained Georgian citizens who illegally crossed the border on 17-18 August (Caucasus Watch reported), were released on 21 August. The Georgian Interior Ministry official Vazha Siradze said that the National Security Council and the State Security Service of Georgia have taken “active steps” and used “all effective measures” to ensure the peaceful return of detainees to their families. He also stated that the European Union Monitoring mission-managed hotline was of major assistance in releasing the detained people. Georgia’s Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze congratulated the youngsters on their peaceful return to their families and focused on the significance of the support offered by the international institutions. “It was of crucial importance that the entire international community stood by our side,” he stated, adding that it was “significant that all the Georgian institutions were engaged in the process from the very first minutes.”

The EU delegation in Georgia released a statement in regard to the erection of artificial barriers in the village of Gugutiantkari. “The erection of fences by de-facto authorities of South Ossetia backed by Russian border guards in the vicinity of the Gugutiantkari village hinders the freedom of movement and will deprive people from the local area from accessing orchards and water resources. It is crucial that this work is stopped and that all relevant actors make active use of the existing mechanisms for communication, including the hotline and Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) format. The European Union remains engaged and involved in stabilisation and conflict resolution efforts in Georgia, including by continuing its engagements as co-chair in the Geneva discussions, the efforts of the European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia (EUSR) as well as the continued presence on the ground of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM),” read the statement.