But many Georgians fear that Russia is already taking over their country by stealth, stealing their sovereignty and democracy from under the noses of an overwhelmingly pro-western population.Ī sign in Khurvaleti warning people not to cross the ‘state border’. With Moscow’s troops bogged down in Ukraine, however, the appearance of Russian tanks on the streets of the capital is not an immediate threat. If the Russians did strike from South Ossetia, they could cut Georgia’s main east-west highway in a few minutes, and be in Tbilisi within a couple of hours. A visit to a relative or friend on the other side of the line now involves a 200km round trip. The nearest crossing point is 30 miles (50km) away and open 10 days a month. Where there is now fence, the dividing line is enforced by fines and sometimes lengthy prison sentences.
Villagers were suddenly separated from family, friends and their own land. “Then it goes on to hard borderisation, where the ditches become fences, the fences become barbed wire, and then barbed wires are then fortified with extra watchtowers.”įive years ago, the inhabitants of Khurvaleti woke to find their village had been cut in two by a wire fence, and then later, a watchtower was built to guard the barrier. “Usually it starts with soft borderisation: ditches, ribbons on trees that show demarcation between the two different sites,” said Klaas Maes, a spokesperson for the monitoring mission.
0 kommentar(er)
