14 January 2010, 10:00
Chochiev: translation of Georgian passports into Russian will touch only Perevi residents
Soon it will be possible to cross the Georgian-South-Ossetian administrative border only with the ID translated into Russian; however, this measure will touch only the residents of the village of Perevi. This was stated by Boris Chochiev, plenipotentiary of President of South Ossetia for post-conflict settlement.
"In the direction of Dzhava, this is the Georgian village of Perevi; and access there is via the Georgian territory. We demanded that citizens of Georgia who live there should have either international passports or translations of Georgian passports. But it does not concern the Leningor (Akhalgor) direction," the "Georgia Online" quotes Mr Chochiev as saying.
At the same time, Tamara Mearkishvili, a resident of Akhalgori (or Leningori in South-Ossetian version) says that Russian frontier guards demand from local residents to start translating the IDs they have in the Georgian language into Russian. "Passengers were warned that since January 20 they will not let in with their Georgian passports: they should have translations. They were told that translations can be notarized in Tbilisi and by the notary who comes from Tskhinvali," said the woman as quoted by the "Echo of the Caucasus".
