Category Archives
South Ossetia

Borderization and territorial claims South Ossetia

Borderization refers to the construction of physical barriers to transform a territorial ceasefire line into an international border.”

While there are various ways to implement so called borderization, this page focuses on the construction by South Ossetian and Russian forces of physical barriers along the ABL of South Ossetia. Such as fences, barbed wire, border signs and other markings in the landscape outside of the crossing points.

Jump to archive pages for 2020, 2019, 2018 or 2017. Note: the Chorchana – Tsnelisi territorial conflict and borderization at that location can be found in its own page

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Abduction, arrest and detention near ABL South Ossetia

Georgian civilians living around the Administrative Boundary Line frequently experience arrest, abduction and detention by Russian or South Ossetian “border guards” for alleged violation and trespassing of the “border”.

This page keeps track of the latest developments of such arrests. Archived years can be found  in the left sidebar. While having mapped incidents since 2014, the blogged chronology is currently only available from 2017 onwards. 

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[2020 archive] Arrests near ABL South Ossetia

Georgian civilians living around the Administrative Boundary Line frequently experience arrests, abduction and detention by Russian or South Ossetian “border guards” for alleged violation and trespassing of the “border”.

This is the archived 2020 page, click here for the current running year

Continue reading [2020 archive] Arrests near ABL South Ossetia

[2020 archive] Borderization South Ossetia

Borderization refers to the construction of physical barriers to transform a territorial ceasefire line into an international border.”

While there are various ways to implement so called borderization, this page focuses on the construction by South Ossetian and Russian forces of physical barriers along the ABL of South Ossetia. Such as fences, barbed wire, border signs and other markings in the landscape outside of the crossing points.

This is the archived 2020 page, click here for the current running year, or jump to 2019, 2018 or 2017. Note: the Chorchana – Tsnelisi territorial conflict and borderization at that location can be found in its own page Continue reading [2020 archive] Borderization South Ossetia

Checkpoint regime South Ossetia

The de facto authorities of South Ossetia frequently close crossing points towards Tbilisi controlled territory for a variety of reasons. In every instance it directly hinders freedom of movement principles, which is precisely the aim of the closures. “Security reasons” are typically cited, but by far most of the time there is no imminent threat at play.

This page logs developments on crossing point closures (and reopening) to provide insight in scale and impact on humanitarian circumstances such as medical aid and so on. Most recent updates on top.   Continue reading Checkpoint regime South Ossetia

[2019 archive] Arrests near ABL South Ossetia

This is the archived 2019 page, click here for the current running year

Continue reading [2019 archive] Arrests near ABL South Ossetia

Georgian civilians living around the Administrative Boundary Line frequently experience arrest, abduction and detention by Russian or South Ossetian “border guards” for alleged violation and trespassing of the “border”.

This is the archived 2019 page, click here for the current running year

Continue reading [2019 archive] Arrests near ABL South Ossetia

[2019 archive] Borderization South Ossetia

Borderization refers to the construction of physical barriers to transform a territorial ceasefire line into an international border.”

While there are various ways to implement so called borderization, this page focuses on the construction by South Ossetian and Russian forces of physical barriers along the ABL of South Ossetia. Such as fences, barbed wire, border signs and other markings in the landscape outside of the crossing points. 

This is the archived 2019 page, click here for the current running year, or jump to 2020, 2018 or 2017. Note: the Chorchana – Tsnelisi territorial conflict and borderization at that location can be found in its own page. The borderization at Gugutiantkari also has its own page.

Continue reading [2019 archive] Borderization South Ossetia

When recognition is not the aim — Civil.ge

What was Russia’s intention with the recognition of the independence of Georgia’s breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 war? In a comment on Civil.ge I shed a light on that, and where this recognition is heading. Follow the links below for an English, Georgian or Russian version. 

Russia’s unilateral recognition of the self-declared independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions on the 26th of August 2008, while pointing to the US-led recognition of Kosovo independence earlier in 2008, was not picked up by the international community. After 11 years, only five countries recognize the independence of the two, as opposed to 101 for Kosovo. Where are Abkhazia and South Ossetia heading with their “independence”? […]

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Territorial dispute Chorchana-Tsnelisi over old and “fake” maps

In August 2019 a simmering territorial dispute driven by South Ossetia revived when Georgian authorities constructed a new police post on Tbilisi administered territory near the South Ossetian controlled Tsnelisi village (referred to as Uista by South Ossetian side) . The course of the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) between Tsnelisi and Georgian controlled Chorchana is disputed by South Ossetia. Only a few days earlier borderization at Gugutiantkari stirred the emotions on the Georgian side.

In the past, Tskhinvali laid a (historic) claim on the area between Tsnelisi and Chorchana, at the southwestern corner of South Ossetia. Since 2019 it has come to an explicit non-physical confrontation, with Georgia de facto losing control of territory, for the moment, rooted in a tactical blunder by the Georgian side. A series of incidents, heated rhetoric and Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meetings were some of the direct and visible elements of the dispute which is still ongoing unresolved into 2022. This page is a chronological overview of developments since August 2019 (last updates at bottom of the page).

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Detention of eight Georgians in 24 hours near Adzvi

On 17-18 August the arrest and detention of eight Georgians by Russian led “border guards” took place near the Administrative Boundary Line on two locations: seven at a church near Adzvistavi and one person near Akhalubani. Annually hundreds of Georgians get arrested in a similar fashion, but the high number of arrested people makes this a remarkable case. 

Continue reading Detention of eight Georgians in 24 hours near Adzvi