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The Head of Information and Public Relations Department of the North Caucasus Military Command, Lt.-Col. Andrey Bobrun told IA RES about the "Kavkaz 2009" first stage activities.
According to him, "during the first phase, the units and detachments engaged in the exercise continue conducting activities on fortification of areas and preparation of armory and equipment for combat fire. The forces of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Fleet engaged in the "Kavkaz 2009" exercise are now at their permanent deployment locations ready for immediate action in accordance with received instructions. The marines had completed fortification of the Black Sea Fleet and the Caspian Fleet units", reported Bobrun.

On 1 July 2009, the 6th round of talks on security and stability in the South Caucasus was held in Geneva. The discussions are held in accordance with the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements and are aimed at elaborating measures to ensure stability in the South Caucasus and security in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The discussions were held in two working groups. Taking into consideration the remaining tension in the region and the security threats, the South Ossetian Delegation suggested discussing the complex of measures to ensure security of South Ossetia and prevent a new aggression by Georgia. During the discussion, an agreement was reached on the necessity to elaborate measures to build confidence between the sides and conclude agreements between South Ossetia and Georgia and Abkhazia and Georgia on non-use of force. Concerns over the continuing militarization of Georgia with the support of the USA and other states were expressed.

The sixth round of the Geneva discussion is ongoing. As the Special Representative for POst-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev told IA RES on the phone, "the discussion is difficult".
"The first working group is discussing security issues. Unfortunately, the document guaranteeing non-use of force has not been approved", said Chochiev. According to him, the discussion of this document started already in May. "In accordance with the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan guaranteeing security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, we have suggested variants of agreement on non-use of force, however, we have not seen any proposals of the kind from the Geneva Co-Chairmen. In return, the Georgian side has presented an extremely cynical draft agreement on non-use of force between Georgia and Russia. These drafts are under discussion now."
"We have firmly raised the issue (which is now being discussed) on the format of the Geneva discussion, about the Chairmen, since the UN is no longer present in Abkhazia and the OSCE has been withdrawn from both Georgia and South Ossetia. Today, we have raised the issue of revising the Chairmanship format at these meetings", said Chochiev.

While opening the conference, the Minister of Defense of South Ossetia Yury Tanaev emphasized the importance of having events of this kind. "Since 1 August 2008, the Georgian-Ossetian relations dramatically aggravated. On the night of 8 August, Georgia shelled Tskhinval with all types of artillery targeting the residents of our Republic. The today's conference aims at analyzing the causes of the war and the course of the hostilities and shortcomings in the controlling of armed units", said the Minister.
The RSO President Eduard Kokoity, representatives of law enforcement and defense structures – the Interior Minister Valery Valiev, Chairman of the State Security Committee (KGB) Boris Attoev, Security Council Chairman Eduard Kotaev, participated in the conference.

From 29 June to 6 July 2009, in accordance with the Training Plan of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, strategic exercise of the North Caucasus Military Command "Kavkaz 2009" will be carried out under the supervision of the Chief of the RF Armed Forces' Joint Staff, Deputy Defense Minister of the Russian Federation, General Nikolay Makarov.
Staff of North Caucasus Military Command troops are engaged in the "Kavkaz 2009" exercise, as well as the interacting and subordinate structures of Air Force and Air Defense, the Caspian fleet, Novorossiysk Naval, Regional Border-guard Department of the Southern Federal District FSB, North Caucasus Regional Command of the RF Interior Ministry Internal Troops and Airborne Troops.
The "Kavkaz 2009" exercise will be conducted on the territory of Karasnodar and Stavropol krai, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov oblast, North Ossetia-Alania, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachaevo-Cherkessia and Chechnya.

The President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity together with the Defense Minister Yuri Tanaev visited the military range. Eduard Kokoity saw the living conditions of recruits and those of the battalion deployed in the field. The President checked the premises, the canteen and the medical point there.
"I have personally seen the conditions you are living in and the messing.

The President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity held a meeting deoted to reconstruction of private and municipal housing partly or completely destroyed during the Georgian aggression in August 2008. The meeting was attended by the Deputy Chairman of the RSO Government, Minister of Health and Social Welfare Nugzar Gabaraev, the Minister of Finance Inal Pukhaev, Prosecutor General Teimuraz Khugaev, Chairman of the State Committee for implementation of rehabilitation projects Zurab Kabisov, Chairman of the Committee for State Control and Economic Security Batradz Tokazov and Tskhinval Major Robert Guliev.
The RSO President listened to the briefing notes made by the meeting participants on the process of reconstruction of private and municipal housing, distribution of humanitarian aid and utilization of funds allocated from the special bank account to the population affected by the Georgian aggression. While discussing the issue of housing reconstruction, Eduard Kokoity mentioned that "advance funds had been already allocated for construction works. I would like to know how many houses we are ready to start with. Time was lost while all these issues were under discussion through the Inter-Agency Commission (IAC) and we should do as much as we can. Each person is important. Any delay is inexcusable. The population is waiting for concrete results of our work".

The South Ossetian delegation left for Geneva to participate in the 6th round of Geneva discussions on security and stability in the South Caucasus planned for 1 July, the Special Representative for Post Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev told IA RES.
According to Chochiev, "the 6th round of Geneva discussions on security and stability in the SOuth Caucasus will fully focus on security issues. We are taking with us a draft Memorandum on non-use if force and we expect that the EU and other international organizations will engage in the discussion on this problem".
"The security issue is crucial for us. We need guarantees that Georgia will not perfidiously attack our country again. I would like to remind that so far the legally bounding document guaranteeing non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia foreseen by the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements has not been signed, and today it is necessary to take into account the threats caused by remilitarization of Georgia and the revanchist plans of its authorities", underscored Chochiev.

On 24 June, a meeting of the State Secretary, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation G.Karasin with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of South Ossetia M.Djioev and Special Representative of South Ossetia's President for Post-Conflict Settlement B.Chochiev.
During the thorough discussion, the newly emerged situation in the South Caucasus with the withdrawal of the OSCE monitoring mission in are of the Georgian-Ossetian borderline was touched upon. Both parties expressed their common disappointment about the approach of the Western states towards the presence of the international observers in this region and the reluctance of these states to take into account the political and legal circumstances in this region.

As a result of a failure at the Edis-Tskhinval water pipeline, the capital city of Tskhinval is again without water. As reported by the Head of Tskhinval Water Pipeline Ruslan Bukulov, the failure happened on 24 June in the village of Andis, Tskhinval District.