Диана Козаева

Statements by the United States and Georgia that, maybe, the drug traffic passes through Abkhazia and South Ossetia, do not hold water. Such an opinion in an interview with IA "Res" has been stated by a representative of the Association of the cross-border cooperation in Central Asia and Caucasus, Mikhail Chernov, commenting on the recent statements by the American and Georgian authorities about the possible drug trafficking through the territory of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Today the candidates for president of South Ossetia, live on the state television are going to sign a joint statement on holding free and fair presidential elections. The draft statement has been proposed by the presidential candidate David Sanakoev during the today's round table in Tskhinval, "Election of the President of South Ossetia, March 25 – is a new stage of development of statehood of the Republic." During the discussion the candidate Dmitry Medoev has noted that in February a similar document was signed by contenders for the presidency, whose action groups at that time were registered by the Central Election Committee.

February 29 the Central Election Committee of South Ossetia has completed registration of presidential candidates. As the CEC Chairman Bella Plieva reported at the briefing held today in Tskhinval, only four candidates had been registered: former head of the KGB of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov, Human Rights Ombudsman David Sanakoev, Ambassador of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation Dmitry Medoev and leader of the Communist Party of South Ossetia, Stanislav Kochiev. "Those presidential aspirants, who were not registered for various reasons, have the right to appeal against the CEC decision. If the Supreme Court revokes our decision, we`ll have to include the person in the list of the candidates-explained Plieva.

The Central Election Committee of South Ossetia has registered the third candidate for president of South Ossetia-Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Ossetia to Russia Dmitry Medoev. As reported to IA "Res" by the CEC secretary Irina Gassieva, "today the CEC meeting has been held in Tskhinval, where the documents of the presidential aspirants were considered. "So the CEC made a decision to register Dmitry Medoev as the third candidate for the presidency of the Republic," - said Gassieva. Following the results of verification of the documents, the CEC refused the registration of entrepreneur Rustem Dzhioev and the CEO of insurance company "Yugosetsotsstrakh" Felix Bitiev.

The 20th meeting of the participants of Mechanisms on prevention and reaction to incidents (MPRI) has been held today in the Georgian village of Ergneti, bordering with South Ossetia.
South Ossetian side was represented by Deputy Presidential Envoy on post-conflict settlement in South Ossetia Merab Chigoev. The talks were also attended by representatives of Russia, Georgia, the EU and the OSCE. The meeting was held behind closed doors.

A round table discussion on a topic "The political situation in South Ossetia on the eve of presidential elections," organized by the Institute of the CIS countries, will be held in Moscow February 20. As IA "Res" has been informed at the press service of the Parliament of South Ossetia, "the discussion will be attended by politicians, political scientists from South and North Ossetia, Russian experts on the Caucasus".

The action groups in support of presidential aspirants of South Ossetia - MP of the IVth convocation Sergei Zasseev and a businessman Oleg Kozaev -submitted subscription lists with the required 500 signatures to the Central Election Committee.

The Central Election Committee of South Ossetia has registered two action groups, nominating Anatoly Dzhioev and former Deputy Speaker Sergei Pliev as the candidates for president of South Ossetia. As IA "Res" has been informed at the CEC of South Ossetia, the authorized representatives of the party "Raestag IR" (Fair Ossetia), nominating the former head of Dzausky district administration of South Ossetia Pavel Kumaritov, were issued a certificate of registration. Deadline for applications from the action groups and political parties is February 9. The action teams supporting Dzhioev and Pliev, as well as the authorized representatives of the party "Raestag IR" were the latest who had submitted applications to the CEC.

The Central Election Committee of South Ossetia has accepted today three packages of documents from the action groups nominating an entrepreneur Dzhioev Rustem, the deputy first four convocations of the Parliament of South Ossetia Tarzan Kokoity, and a resident of Leningor district Basil Khachirov as the presidential candidates. This has been reported to IA "Res" by the CEC of the Republic.

Human Rights Ombudsman under the President of South Ossetia, David Sanakoev intends to run for the presidency of the Republic. As IA "Res" has been informed at the Central Election Committee of South Ossetia, today it received a notice about the meeting of the action group in support of David Sanakoev.