Saakashvili: Kazbegi-Verkhny Lars Closing Dealt Blow to Armenia Rather than Georgia

PanARMENIAN.Net
12.07.2006 13:14 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The closing of the Verkhny Lars checkpoint dealt
a blow to Armenia rather than Georgia, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili said at a press conference in Tbilisi July 11. The
closing of the Verkhny Lars checkpoint did not deal blow to the
Georgian economy because Georgian cargo was not transported this
way. But for ordinary people, who move from one state to another,
it’s really bad. And it’s especially bad for Armenia, since the major
part of cargo destined for this country was transported through the
Verkhny Lars," Saakashvili said remarking that Georgian cargo was
not let pass this way.

July 8 Russian border guards blocked the northern sector of the
Georgian-Russian border at the checkpoint of Kazbegi-Verkhni Lars
over some construction works.

July 10 the Georgian authorities ordered to establish a temporary
checkpoint to allow the citizens enter Georgia from Russia. Many
of these people trying to enter Georgia headed from Verkhny Lars
towards Nizhny Zaramag checkpoint (at the Russian border) and then
via the Roksky tunnel into the Tskhinvali region where there are no
formal checkpoints for crossing the Russian-Georgian border, reported
Georgia online.