Georgia: EU May Conduct Satellite Monitoring of Conflict Zones

Following a series of detentions of ethnic Georgians by Russian border guards in breakaway South Ossetia, European monitors deployed in Georgia are planning to conduct satellite monitoring of the conflict area to help prevent further incidents and to resolve disputes between Tbilisi, Moscow and Tskhinvali.

Steve Bird, spokesperson for the European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia, told EurasiaNet that satellite images will help track militia and border guard movements, and identify possible security threats.

Tbilisi has expressed strong support for the initiative. "It is not important to us whether we actually get access to these satellite photos, it will be enough for us that [...] the EU itself gets an objective picture of the situation on the ground," Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze told Rustavi-2 television on November 16.

Ambassador Hansjörg Haber, head of the EUMM, said on November 13, however, that satellite pictures "cannot entirely replace monitoring on the ground." The separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have not allowed EU monitors access to the two territories.