Media.ge, Tbilisi, 01 Oct 2008 – Troops of Russian Federation that invaded Georgia are still refusing representatives of Georgian media to enter so called buffer zones. These buffer zones are set up by Russian militaries themselves at the boundaries of unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
On October 1 journalist were informed at the checkpoint set up near the village of Karaleti that they wouldn’t be let in without order.
Today, Georgian media had been trying to cover the process of monitoring buffer zones by EU Monitoring Mission (EUMN). The process started on October 1, after the five-day warfare in August.
The purpose of the observation mission is to monitor compliance to the Ceasefire Agreement (Medvedev-Sarkozy Plan).
Rustavi 2 Broadcasting Company reports that Russian occupants didn’t let Georgian and foreign journalists enter the buffer zone. The journalists intended to cover the monitoring mission in action.
On October 1 Georgian TV channels aired BBC’s report about launching EUOM in the buffer zones. BBC camera crew had to make a phone call to the Ministry of Defense of Russia and wait for two hours for the reply in order to pass Russian checkpoint and enter the buffer zone.
In the report BBC journalist stated that militaries of the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia blockaded their car at the checkpoint and demanded the journalist to immediately cease filming.
On October 22 OSCE special representative on Freedom of Media Miklos Haraszti declared that journalist shall be allowed to enter the crisis regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia; and all parties involved in the conflict shall cover events objectively.
According to Haraszti, the warfare is over and the time is now to let journalists enter the crisis regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. As he declared, all illegal restrictions about not letting journalists in the region shall be removed.
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