EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has called on Moscow to remove fences and obstacles, installed by the Russian troops across the administrative boundary lines with breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Ashton’s spokesperson said in a statement on October 1: “The High Representative notes with profound concern the continued and increasing activities by Russian security forces to erect fences and other obstacles along administrative boundary lines in Georgia between the territory administered by the government in Tbilisi and the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”

“Such activities - which contravene Georgia's territorial integrity - create significant hardship for residents on either side of the administrative boundary lines and seriously challenge stability and security in these regions,” the statement reads.

“The High Representative calls on the Russian Federation to ensure that these barriers are removed. She recalls the European Union's support for Georgia's territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders.”