Tbilisi, 7 April 2022 – EUMM Head of Mission, Ambassador Marek Szczygieł hosted today Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist at the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) with South Ossetia.
Head of Mission Szczygieł briefed Defence Minister Hultqvist on the latest security and humanitarian developments in the Khurvaleti area. In the divided village of Didi Khurvaleti, he explained how ongoing ‘borderisation’ activities and features, such as fences and a watchtower, negatively affect conflict-affected communities living along the ABL in their daily lives. The briefing focused on the restrictions that ‘borderisation’ cause to the freedom of movement of the local population and the challenges that this poses in terms of access to education, healthcare, property or religious sites.
At the end of the visit, Defence Minister Hultqvist thanked the Mission for its contribution to stability as the only international monitoring presence on the ground.
