On the wire - As leaders move closer to Putin, EU hopes fade

Ruling party in Tbilisi claims it is pursuing a future within Europe yet rails against Brussels, Ukraine and Nato

- Julian Borger

Around the Georgian village of Khurvaleti, Russia’s occupation can creep forward a few yards at night. It often starts with a line ploughed across a field. Then a green sign will materialise, warning people not to cross. Then the concertina wire appears.

Khurvaleti is at the southern edge of South Ossetia, a breakaway region occupied by Russian troops since a five-day war with Georgia in 2008, in what proved to be a dress rehearsal for Ukraine.

There are few soldiers to be seen in the two military bases in the hills on either side of Khurvaleti. But Georgians fear that if Russia were to prevail in Ukraine, Putin’s forces would be back. For now, the line marking the extent of Russian occupation is watched by EU monitors looking for new signs of “borderisation”.

“Usually it starts with soft borderisation – ditches, ribbons on trees that show demarcation between the two sites,” said Klaas Maes, a spokesperson for the monitoring mission. “The ditches become fences, the fences become barbed wire, then the wire is fortified with extra watchtowers.”

Five years ago, villagers woke to find Khurvaleti had been cut in two by a wire fence; later, a watchtower was built to guard the barrier. Villagers were separated from family, friends and their land. A dividing line demarcated by a fence is enforced by fines and sometimes lengthy jail sentences. The nearest crossing point is 50km away and open 10 days a month.