NATO Disturbed by S. Ossetia Border Fences

TBILISI NATO is concerned bythe situation onthe Georgia-South Ossetia border, where Russian forces put up wire fences along theborder last week, NATO's envoy forthe South Caucasus andCentral Asia said Monday.

Georgia protested last Monday over thesetting up ofa barbed wire fence byRussian border forces along its border with thedisputed region ofSouth Ossetia.

Thebuilding ofillegal dividing structures is aviolation ofexisting agreements andimpedes thefree movement ofpeople, NATO envoy James Appathurai said.

Russia's Foreign Ministry released aletter Monday condemning what it said were attempts "to stoke up thesituation" onthe border between South Ossetia andGeorgia with aneye tothe election campaign inGeorgia and"shifting theblame" toRussia.

Last Wednesday, EU observers condemned construction ofbarbed wire fences onthe administrative border between Georgia andSouth Ossetia as unacceptable, andsaid it may destabilize thesituation inthe region.

Under aninterstate agreement with Russia signed in2009, South Ossetia delegated its state border protection functions toRussia until therepublic establishes its own border guard service. South Ossetia's border with Georgia is about 350 kilometers long.

Georgia lost control over one-fifth ofits territory after South Ossetia andAbkhazia, another former republic within Georgia, broke away andwere recognized byMoscow inthe wake ofa brief war with Russia inAugust 2008.

Read the original:
NATO Disturbed by S. Ossetia Border Fences