EU Calls for Restraint over S.Ossetia
Civil Georgia, Tbilisi / 4 Aug.'09 / 01:33

European Union said it was concerned with the recent accusations of shellings leveled by the Georgian and South Ossetian sides in recent days.

“The European Union Monitoring Mission [EUMM] patrols on the ground in Georgia have seen no evidence so far to confirm mutual accusations of shellings,” the Swedish presidency said in a statement released on behalf of EU on Monday evening.

Both the Georgian and South Ossetian sides accused each other of opening fire on July 29 and on August 1 the South Ossetian side claimed Georgia fired two mortar rounds in direction of its military post close to the administrative border.

Couple of hours after the EU Swedish presidency statement was released on August 3, the South Ossetian side reported that one of its border villages again came under fire from the Georgian side.

The breakaway region’s authorities claimed that three mortar rounds were fired from the Georgian village of Plavismani in direction of the village of Ortev on the South Ossetian side of the administrative border at 10:05pm local time on August 3. These villages are located in the south-east from the breakaway region’s capital, Tskhinvali.

“The EU urges all sides to refrain from any statement or action that may lead to increased tensions at this particularly sensitive time,” EU presidency said in the statement.

It called on all sides to cooperate in frames of incident prevention and response mechanisms in order to clarify reported incidents.

“The EU further calls on all sides to give the EUMM unrestricted access to both sides of the South Ossetian administrative boundary line,” the statement reads.

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