TBILISI. Aug 30 (Interfax) - All parties must demonstrate maximum restraint in the situation on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia; a confrontation is unacceptable, Head of the EU Delegation to Georgia Carl Hartzell wrote on Twitter on Friday.
"Situation around Chorchana, incl. close proximity of armed actors on both sides of the ABL and confrontational language used in today's IPRM, is unacceptable," Hartzell said.
"We expect all sides to show maximum restraint and use their influence to ensure situation doesn't escalate," he said.
A meeting of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) involving Georgia and South Ossetia was thwarted on Thursday. According to Tbilisi, South Ossetia gave an ultimatum when the sides were discussing construction of a Georgian checkpoint near the border village of Chorchana and left the meeting.
Tskhinval demanded that the checkpoint be removed before 6 p.m. on Friday. Tbilisi said the checkpoint was placed in an area held by Georgia and dismissed South Ossetia's demands as unfounded.
Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Bortsvadze told the press on Friday that all was stable in the Chorchana area.
Representatives of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia are visiting the area, and efforts are being taken to find "a constructive solution to every disputed issue without incident or escalation," he said.