The road between Georgia and Russia, which passes through the Daryal Gorge, will be opened on Monday at 17:00 Tbilisi time to all types of vehicles, but they must follow a special regime, the Department of Highways of Georgia said.
According to the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia, works were coordinated by the chairman of the Department of Highways, Giorgi Seturidze.
The movement of traffic will be controlled by the patrol police, Sputnik Georgia reports.
The press service of the State Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia in North Ossetia, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, could neither confirm nor deny this, adding that the agency does not yet have information on the opening of the Georgian Military Road.
As Vestnik Kavkaza previously reported, on June 23, there was a powerful mudslide in Georgia's Daryal Gorge, which blocked the 800 kilometer section of the Georgian Military Road (134-135km section of the Mtskheta-Stepantsminda-Lars). Immediately after the mudslide, the Georgian authorities started works to liquidate the consequences of the disaster. Their first priority was to divert the mountain rivers to their original course. Six days later the Terek river returned to its bed.
Georgia's transportation services were able to start working on the Georgian Military road only on Thursday, June 30th. "As a result of the intensive work in the Daryal Gorge the river Terek returned to its course and the work to restore the road was started. Up to 40 pieces of equipment were used at the site," the Department of Highways of the Georgian Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia said.
As of July 3, 50 Armenian citizens are waiting in the deadend of the Georgian Military Road. After some of the cars took alternative routes, and the majority of Armenian citizens was evacuated by the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry's aircraft to Yerevan, 144 people are still waiting for the opening of the Russian-Georgian border left. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia, all the people were provided with tents, food and other essentials.
Earlier, people willing to get to Russia from Georgia have been helicoptered by the Georgian Interior Ministry after a landslide blocked the only road linking the two countries. The Ministry said up to 60 people were helicoptered from Stepantsminda to the Dariali Gorge from where they were escorted by police to the Lars checkpoint at the border with Russia.
