On 26 October, the third EU-Georgia Strategic Security Dialogue was held in Tbilisi, reported agenda.ge. The dialogue is an annual meeting between the EU and Georgian foreign policy officials which covers the issues of common interests in the field of foreign and security policy.

The meeting was co-chaired by the First Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia Vakhtang Makharoblishvili and Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service Jean-Christophe Belliard. At the meeting both sides reconfirmed their strong interest in closer cooperation in foreign and security policy, in line with the EU-Georgia Association Agreement. The EU Delegation to Georgia reported that the sides discussed the security and humanitarian situation in Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia), including the recent developments on the ground in relation with Russia.

“We condemn intensified provocations in and around the occupied territories of Georgia, including the building of so-called posts of occupation forces close to the village of Chorchana, installation of artificial barriers along the occupation line in the villages of Atotsi and Gugutiantkari and the lengthy closures of so-called crossing points,” said Makharoblishvili.

A day earlier, a meeting was held for the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in Ergneti. The de facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region said that the tension at the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelisi will ease only if and after Tbilisi removes a police post located in the village of Chocrhana. The village is located on the Georgian side of the de facto border.

Georgian officials said that the separatist forces grabbed an additional 1,300 meters of Tbilisi-controlled territory in Chorchana and opened two new police-posts. They also condemned the short detention of monitors from the European Union Monitoring mission (EUMM) by the de facto Tshkinvali authorities a day earlier. The de facto Tskhinvali authorities argued that the EUMM “illegally crossed the border in the village of Tsnelisi,” adding that the action was “provocative” in nature, while the EUMM stated that their monitors were “briefly held on the Tbilisi-administered territory.”

“The detention of monitors [from] the EU Monitoring Mission is a serious incident. The EU Monitoring Mission facilitates… peace, and the fact that the mission has to cope with such challenges is a serious problem. It is unacceptable to impede the [mission’s work], since it is the only international and effective monitoring mechanism and provides objective information about the situation along the occupation line. Our Special Representative will leave for Moscow to meet with Russian colleagues,” said Belliard when it happened.