Yesterday, at approximately at 18:10 shots were fired when a motorcade carrying Georgian and Polish Presidents approached a Russian checkpoint at the Akhalgori section of the South Ossetian administrative border.

The presidents were going to an IDP settlement site as they decided to visually inspect the Russian controlled checkpoint in district of Akhalgori as a demonstration of Russia's violation of the six-point agreement.

District of Akhalgori, with its central town and surrounding villages is an ethnically Georgian enclave and has always been under full Georgian control before the August war. However, now it is part of what Russia calls "the independent state of South Ossetia". The district has been ethnically cleansed from ethnic Georgians and despite the six-point agreement's call to withdraw Russian forces to pre-war positions, is still under Russian military occupation.

The two presidents approached the Russian controlled checkpoint near the village Akhmaji - the site frequently visited by international observers.

As they got close, in distance of about 100 ft, checkpoint opened a machine-gun fire. No one in the convoy was hit. The shooting lasted for about 5-7 minutes. The two presidents were immediately evacuated and no single shot was fired in response.

Communications Office
of the President of Georgia