German FM visits occupation line in Georgia along with EUMM mission

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Friday visited the occupation line in the central Georgian village of Odzisi, Gori municipality, separating the country’s Russian-controlled Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region from the rest of Georgia. 

The European Union Monitoring Mission – the only foreign mission in the country observing security near the country’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions – accompanied the visiting official at the location, with its chair highlighting the “negative impact of ‘borderization’ when it comes to the freedom of movement of the local population”, EUMM Georgia said. 

According to media reports, the Georgian government representatives did not appear in the village along with the German FM. 

Baerbock has already met with her Georgian counterpart Ilia Darchiashvili, president Salome Zourabichvili and the representatives of domestic NGOs and the opposition. 

She is scheduled to meet with prime minister Irakli Garibashvili, who is now in the Parliament answering the lawmakers’ questions, before leaving the country later today. 

Georgian civil activists have plans to see the FM off with EU flags at Tbilisi airport. 

Prior to her first visit to Georgia, Baerbock said she would be focused on Georgia’s EU integration prospects ahead of the bloc’s forthcoming decision on the country’s membership candidate status, and “attempts” to derail Tbilisi from its western course.