TBILISI. Oct 25 (Interfax) - The detention of EU Monitoring Mission to Georgia (EUMM) employees on the contact line by South Ossetian servicemen is unacceptable and is directed against peace and security in the region, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
"The illegal detention of EU monitors is a step directed against peace and security in the region. Obstructing the mission's work is unacceptable, since it is the only viable international mechanism of monitoring and provides unbiased information about the situation near the occupation line," Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vladimir Konstantinidi said.
The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) will discuss this incident at its meeting on Friday, Konstantinidi said. The situation will also be discussed at a meeting with EU officials in Tbilisi today.
According to the EUMM, its patrol was briefly detained by South Ossetian security forces near the villages of Chorchana and Tsnelis on October 24.
The State Security Committee of South Ossetia, for its part, said that the EUMM monitors were detained in South Ossetia's territory. The EUMM said that its monitors were in Tbilisi-controlled territory.