EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) said that “contrary to recent press reports” it was not in a position to confirm or deny the claims of Russian involvement in any of the explosions that occurred in Georgia in recent few months.

“The Mission has not conducted an investigation into these events as it is not in its mandate to do so,” EUMM said in a statement on December 9.

Georgia's evidence, through which Tbilisi claims that an Abkhazia-based Russian army officer was behind series of explosions and one failed blast attempt, include, among others, an inquiry made by Russian forces in Abkhazia via hotline asking EUMM about explosion, which never happened.

The Georgian Interior Ministry released an e-mail received from EUMM confirming to the ministry that it received such inquiry through a hotline from the Russian forces in Abkhazia. The Georgian Interior Ministry suggested that those who made the inquiry had prior knowledge that the blast was intended on a railway in western Georgia. Rustavi 2 TV’s December 7 report on the case said the e-mail from EUMM “confirms once again that implementation of the task [carrying out explosions] is under personal control of the Russian special services.”

“The Mission provided information from the log of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) hotline for 3 October to the Georgian Ministry of the Interior as part of the normal hotline procedure. Information from the hotline is available to all the participants. The hotline plays an important role in the sharing of information and de-escalating tensions,” the statement reads.