Ban on Travel Further Discredits Tskhinvali ? State Minister Says

By tightening control over the local population, the South Ossetian secessionist authorities are further distancing themselves from the needs of residents in the region, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, Davit Bakradze, said on September 5.

Breakaway South Ossetia has banned its citizens from traveling to Georgia proper, starting from September 1, in order ?to protect them from provocations? masterminded by the Georgian side ahead of the unrecognized republic?s independence day on September 20.

?I think the creation of more problems for local people, will demonstrate to them what type of authorities they have to deal with,? Bakradze said at a news conference. ?In turn it will make it easier for them to make the right choice between the Kokoity regime and what the [Tbilisi-backed] South Ossetian provisional administration [chaired by Dimitri Sanakoev] is offering them.?

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