EU Access to South Ossetia Unrealistic

German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber, the head of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM), said on October 2 that it would be unrealistic to expect Russian forces to grant the EU monitors access to breakaway South Ossetia in the near future.

The EUMM officially started patrols on October 1. The first patrols, each consisting of two vehicles, have already been conducted in Samegrelo and Shida Kartli regions.

Haber told Reuters that the ceasefire monitors would try to arrange with the South Ossetian police to make the de facto border more “porous” for trade, and to mediate between police on either side.

“We are a civilian, unarmed observer mission and we can only go where we are allowed to go,” the EUMM head said.

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