Tskhinval, ICRC, 29 April 2009 – Last night, the ICRC office in Tskhinval was subjected to armed robbery.
At approximately 1:30 a.m., unidentified persons in masks entered the office by force. The office guards were coerced, one of them received slight injuries.
The perpetrators took some ICRC property items and escaped from the scene. The incident was immediately reported to the law enforcement bodies of South Ossetia.
The reconstruction of buildings destroyed during the Georgian aggression will start this week from 1 May, stated the RSO President Eduard Kokoity at today’s session of the government. He noted that the funding officially starts on 1 May and 790 mil rouble had been already allocated.
”the fund allocation scheme had been set, and the spendings will be under a joint strict control. There should be transparency in place. Many things depend on how effectively wed are able to work”, said Eduard Kokoity.
A delegation of the RF Central Election Commission arrived in South Ossetia with a working visit headed by the Public Chamber of the RF, Chairman of the Foundation "Free elections". Andrei Przhezdomski. The delegation was received by the RSO President Eduard Kokoity.
The process of compensations payouts to the population affected during the Georgian aggression will restart in the nearest future, reported the RSO President Eduard Kokoity at the session of the RSO Government. "The arrival of the Deputy EMERCOM Ruslan Tsalikov is related not only to inspection at sites under EMERCOM's reconstruction, but the issue of 50,000-compensation payouts to the population will be settled. We are resuming this process.
Specialists from the Russian Federal Archive agency, representatives of Archiving Services of North Ossetia and Sverdlovsk oblast are visiting Tskhinval, South Ossetia, to sign a memorandum on cooperation with South Ossetia.
Kirill Chernenkov, the Head of department for international relations of the Federal Archive Agency, told about the purpose of the visit.
Today, at 12 a.m., the Georgian police in the villages of Akhmadji detained Valentina Bedoeva, born 1969. She was going to the village at the borderline to see her relatives. She was traveling together with her two children, 10-year old twins Marat Khubaev and Marina Khubaeva.
Presently, the detainees are still kept by Georgian police. According to Bedoeva’s relatives, to release the woman with the two children, police demands for 3, 000 Georgian lari (60,000 roubles). In case of refusal, the policemen menaced with filing a criminal case.
Last night, the Georgian side shelled the village of Velit in Znaur district of South Ossetia, reported the Deputy Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseev. “At around 0100 hr a.m., a COBRA (Turkish-made) armored vehicle moved along the border with South Ossetia from the Georgian village of Dirbi with an attempted penetration into the territory of South Ossetia. It opened fire at the village of Velit,” reported the Deputy Defense Minister Ibragim Gasseev.
In accordance with the NATO-Georgia military plans, on 6 May-1 June, military exercises will be held on the territory of Georgia with the participation of up to 1,300 military staff from about 20 countries. Do these military maneuvers imply any threat to the security of the Republic of South Ossetia and what sort of work should be done by RSO Defense Ministry and other structures to neutralize a possible escalation of the situation in South Ossetia throughout the period of preparation for the above exercise?
Yury Tanaev, Defense Minister of RSO:
These exercises in May-June bear no threat to South Ossetia since they spoke about 1,300 personnel, while we have 3,000 plus the Russian contingent. Potentially there is a threat, if the neighboring country carried out exercises in the vicinity to borderline area and other neighboring states or allies are involved, this speaks for their getting prepared for a war. This again underlines that Georgia did not accept the situation and that Georgia will attempt to tear away and seize our territories; their allies, that is, Western Europe and the United States are helping them in this and encourage them for a new aggression.
On 21 April 2009, through an investigation and search operation carried out by RSO KGB, an ammunition cache had been found in the village of Kekhvi, Tskhinval district. 2,400 submachine gun cartridges and 26 hand-grenades were among the ammunition.
Currently, the investigation continues to determine the circumstances under which the cache was placed there and to identify those involved.
The President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity met with inhabitants of villages occupied by Georgian authorities, people, who were expelled from the places of their permanent residence in 1989-1992.
Health Minister Nugzar Gabaraev, Post Conflict Settlement Minister Boris Chochiev and representatives of Tskhinval district administration participated in the meeting. Eudard Kokoity underlined that it was planned to bring back a normal peaceful life, restore local governance and law enforcement structures.
"Today, law and order are restored on the territory of the Republic and we have the possibility to return to our lands and start on peaceful life. We are not dividing people according to their ethnic origin. There are Georgians and Ossetians, as well as other ethnicities, among you, who had been living in these villages. You are all citizens of our Republic and the state is ready to create all necessary conditions for your return to your homes," said President.
In the course of the meeting, Eduard Kokoity responded to participants' questions.