Agence France Presse
February 26, 2010 Friday 4:32 PM GMT

Georgia-Russia border crossing to reopen Monday: Tbilisi

TBILISI, Feb 26 2010

Georgia and Russia on Monday will reopen a mountain border crossing
closed since 2006, Tbilisi said, in a rare step towards warmer ties
between the two neighbours after their August 2008 war.

Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Friday that the
checkpoint, known as Verkhny Lars in Russia and Kazbegi in Georgia,
will reopen at 6:00 am (0200 GMT) on March 1.

It is the only land border crossing that does not pass through
Georgia’s Russian-backed rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
which were the focus of the bitter conflict in 2008.

The two countries late last year reached a deal under Swiss and
Armenian mediation to reopen the checkpoint.

The crossing will be open to people, vehicles and cargo but visas will
be required for Russian citizens to enter Georgia, the statement said.

Russia closed the checkpoint in a move Georgian officials said was
motivated by tensions over Tbilisi’s efforts to build closer ties with
the West.

Armed conflict between the two ex-Soviet neighbours erupted in August
2008, when Russian forces poured into Georgia to repel a Georgian
military attempt to retake South Ossetia.

Russia later mostly withdrew to within South Ossetia and Abkhazia,
which Moscow recognised as independent states, a move so far followed
by only a handful of countries.

The closing of the crossing dealt a heavy blow to Georgia’s neighbour
Armenia, which relied on the crossing as its only overland route to
Russia, its key economic partner.

Russia also cut air links with Georgia during the war, only four
months after they had resumed following an 18-month embargo. Several
charter flights were allowed to operate between the two countries in
January, but full air links have not yet been restored.