On 21 March 2018, the 54th meeting of the joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) was held in Gali under the United Nations chairmanship, with the participation of Georgian, Russian, Abkhaz and EUMM (European Union Monitoring Mission) representatives.
In his opening remarks the Chair expressed hope that the meeting would be as constructive as the previous ones and would take place in the atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding of each other’s positions.
While the participants assessed the overall security situation on the ground as calm and stable, concerns were expressed about recent detentions for “illegal crossings”. In this context, three cases were discussed. The Chair called upon the participants to do their utmost to avoid unnecessary detentions and provide the local population with relevant information on the rules and practices regarding crossings, as agreed at previous IPRM meetings.
The murder case of an unarmed Georgian civilian, in May 2016, at a former crossing point was also raised.
The Chair thanked the participants for their positive exchange of views on the agenda points and urged them to cooperate in order to keep the situation on the ground calm and stable. The meeting was held in a constructive atmosphere.
It was agreed to have the next meeting on 25 April 2018.