Humanitarian operation in Znauri district is fully peaceful - S. Ossetian Foreign Ministry
TSKHINVAL. Sept 5 (Interfax) - The South Ossetian Foreign Ministry has commented on the special humanitarian operation conducted on the territory of the Znauri district by the border guard service of the republic's State Security Service.
The State Security Service earlier said the border guard service of South Ossetia had begun implementing the next stage of its humanitarian operation on the outskirts of the village of Uista (Tsnelis), Znauri district, to ensure citizens' security and stability in the region at the decision of President Anatoly Bibilov.
"To prevent provocations by Georgia on the section of the South Ossetian-Georgian border in the area of the village of Uista, a group of the State Security Service border guard service took Height 944.8 [located over the Georgian police checkpoint], restored the state border guard sign and raised the South Ossetian flag on the border with Georgia," the State Security Service said.
The South Ossetian Foreign Ministry said in this regard this operation "does not pose any threat to the population of the border territories of neighboring Georgia and is first and foremost aimed at maintaining the border regime, ensuring the security of the citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia who live in the border area of the Znauri district, and also boosting stability in the region."
The Foreign Ministry said Georgia's prevocational actions on the part of the border territory of South Ossetia near the village of Uista (Tsnelis) under the protection of the Georgian Interior Ministry continue.
"The large-scale work on equipping the illegal border police post are regarded by Tskhinval as deliberate and demonstrative fueling of tensions on the border territories, which can seriously destabilize the situation not only on the South-Ossetian-Georgian border, but also in the region in general," the document said.
In this regard, the republic's president Anatoly Bibilov ordered the State Security Committee's border guard service to start implementing a special humanitarian operation on the outskirts of the village of Uista (Tsnelis), Znauri district of South Ossetia, for the purpose of neutralizing the threat to the residents of 29 residential buildings of this gorge coming from the Georgian security structures.
The position of South Ossetia on the illegal invasion of the territory of South Ossetia by Georgian military units remains the same: immediate withdrawal and halt of all construction work.
South Ossetia has repeatedly asked the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia, the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions on security in South Caucasus, and also all participants in Georgian-Ossetian settlement to exert relevant pressure on Georgia to stop the further fueling of tensions.
"However, unfortunately, it did not happen. Instead of a sober assessment of the current situation, we heard abstract words, which have nothing to do with reality," the Foreign Ministry said.