Russian-occupied territories in Georgia

[26] In February 2013, it was reported that the Georgian Government was considering amendments to the law that would decriminalize entry into Abkhazia and South Ossetia from territories other than those controlled by Georgia and make it an administrative offence, subject to financial penalty instead of prison term.

The statement was a response to the earlier declaration by the de facto authorities in Sukhumi that they simplified visa rules for tourists seeking to enter Abkhazia during the Winter Olympics via the Psou border crossing point.

[32] On 15 April 2014, after annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Ukrainian Rada adopted the law "On Ensuring Protection of the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens and Legal Regime on the Temporarily Occupied Territory of Ukraine".

[68] The "borderization" process also involved a gradual advance of the occupation line inside Georgia by grabbing small chunks of Georgian-held terrain to enlarge the Russian-held territory, placing it nominally under South Ossetian administration.

[62][72] Georgian deputy Minister for Energy and Natural Resources, Ilia Eloshvili said that the Russians had to move the line one more kilometre (0.6 mi) into the Georgian-controlled territory in order for the portion of the pipeline to be under their authority.

[77] Russian authorities remained tight-lipped about the developments, claiming only that South Ossetia was marking out its "true territorial boundaries in line with maps from the Soviet-era", when it was an autonomous region within the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[78] Georgians suspected that the fence-building by the Russian military personnel was connected to the fact that their country made steps towards close cooperation with the European Union by initiating an association agreement with the EU.

[88] Russia's Foreign Ministry claimed that the journalists "intentionally and demonstratively" crossed the border and this was "a planned action for the purposes of complicating the atmosphere" of the scheduled meeting between Russian and Georgian diplomats (Grigory Karasin and Zurab Abashidze) in Prague on 16 April.

"Despite the friendly statements made by the new Georgian government in recent weeks and months, the Russian military keeps advancing its positions, dividing communities with new barbed wire and threatening our economy.

"[122][123] In July 2014, Foreign Minister Linas Antanas Linkevičius said that Lithuania must maintain a dialogue with the government of Belarus, noting that Western leaders met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, despite the crisis in Ukraine.

According to Russian news agencies, then Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin commented on this statement, saying that "They [Georgians] mustn't seek solutions outside," and "It's necessary to conduct a dialogue without citing third parties.

[129] In March 2011, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip H. Gordon said that use of term "occupied" by Washington in reference to Abkhazia and South Ossetia was not meant to be a "provocation" but a description of situation on the ground.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) affirming U.S. support for the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of the country of Georgia and calling upon Russia to remove its occupying forces from Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

[137] In October 2013, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf denounced the erection of fences and other physical barriers by Russian security forces along the administrative boundary lines of the occupied territories of Georgia.

"[140][141] On 7 June 2014, the White House announced $5 million aid for Georgia that would help people living near the border with Russia and "increase access to objective information by populations in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia".

[146][147] In March 2014, the President of Romania Traian Băsescu at the presentation of the Defence Ministry's annual report declared: "We can no longer see the incidents of 2008, when the Russian Federation occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as isolated occurrences.

"[162] During his visit to Georgia in May 2012, Josep Antoni Duran i Lleida, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Spanish Congress of Deputies, called on Georgian citizens not to allow the Russian military exercises, named "Kavkaz 2012", to influence the parliamentary elections in October 2012.

[...] The EU remains deeply concerned by the signing of the agreements between Russia and the Georgian separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the joint protection of the so called borders and by the subsequent deployment of Russian border-guards.

The EU supported the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and expressed its concern about the Russian military and security related presence and infrastructure reinforcements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

It also called on the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy "... to step up efforts to encourage Russia to comply with the six-point Sarkozy Plan to stabilise and resolve the conflict in Georgia".

The resolution said that under the effective control of the occupying power there had been ethnic cleansing and forced demographic changes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Russia bore responsibility for human rights violations.

The resolution also declared that Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine "... have a European perspective and may apply to become members of the Union provided that they adhere to the principles of democracy, respect fundamental freedoms and human and minority rights and ensure the rule of law".

[180] In November 2010, NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution containing the terms "occupied territories" and "ethnic cleansing" referring to Russian military presence and actions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

[181] In late June 2013, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during his visit to Georgia said that the fence-building by the Russian troops "impedes freedom of movement" and could "further inflame tensions" in the region.

The resolution urged the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, and the de facto authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission access to the occupied territories.

"I call on the involved authorities to stop this process immediately and to remove the barbwire which prevents the residents in the area from living a normal daily life and contravenes the principle of the territorial integrity of Georgia," he said.

Among numerous decisions, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly also called on the Russian Federation to fulfil the commitments under the 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement to de-occupy the Georgian territory and to respect the principles of international law.

[193] In September 2013, the co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly for Georgia, Michael Aastrup Jensen and Boris Tsilevitch, expressed their concern about the resumption of the building of fences and other physical obstacles by Russian border guards along the administrative boundaries.

[197][198] During its 1198th meeting held on 29–30 April 2014, the Deputies of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe discussed the ninth Consolidated Report on the Conflict in Georgia, which was prepared by the Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland.

She noted that "Since May 2013, barb wired fences, additional watch towers and other monitoring equipment have been set up by Russian guards along a stretch of more than 50 kilometres of the Administrative Boundary Line of South Ossetia."