Georgia Slams New Russian Barrier in Separatist Zone

Georgia on Tuesday lashed out at arch-foe Russia over the construction of a new barrier along its disputed frontline with the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

"The foreign ministry of Georgia expresses its deep concern over the installation of wire fences by the Russian occupation forces across the Tskhinvali region's occupation line," the ministry said in a statement.

The building of the barrier was a "blatant violation" of both international law and a ceasefire agreement signed in 2008 to end a brief war between Georgia and Russia, the statement said.

"These illegal activities disregard and violate the right of free movement and other civil, social, economic and cultural rights of people residing in the occupied regions and in the adjacent areas," the statement said.

On Monday the European Union's Monitoring Mission in Georgia said it had sent a team to the village of Ditsi along the disputed border with South Ossetia to observe the construction of the new fences.

Russia and Georgia went to war in August 2008 over breakaway South Ossetia, a pro-Moscow region of Soviet-era Georgia which split with Tbilisi after the USSR crumbled in 1991.

Russia, which had deployed troops there since the 1990s, recognized South Ossetia, and another breakaway region of Abkhazia, as independent states after the war, while Tbilisi still considers them part of its territory currently under Russian occupation.