News

The Head of Administration of Dzau district of South Ossetia Pavel Kumaritov visited Kvaisa and Sinagur. It was his first working visit as the head of the administration. On the spot, he met with representatives of local administrations as well as communicated with the public.
The main problem raised by residents of Kvaisa was the construction of wooden houses at the Dzhodzhora river bank. Future owners of these houses are afraid that the river may spill over the banks and to demolish the houses. It should be noted that this issue was raised by the residents as soon as the construction of houses began. However, the construction of the houses continued.

President of the Republic of South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity has congratulated the head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov on his birthday, and the Chechen people on the remarkable holiday, the 192nd anniversary of the founding of the city of Grozny, reports the Presidential Administration.
"Dear Ramzan Akhmatovich!
I would like express highest consideration on your birthday, and have the honor to join numerous greetings you are getting these days. Please, accept heartfelt wishes of good health, happiness and prosperity.
As one of the most charismatic regional leaders in Russia, you are doing much to strengthen Russian statehood.

On 5 October 2010, the third tripartite meeting of representatives of South Ossetia, Russia and Georgia under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) took place at the border with South Ossetia, in the Georgian village of Ergneti. The meeting was held in the framework of the mechanism to look into the issue of the missing persons to identify their fate. This was reported by the Deputy Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement to the President of South Ossetia Merab Chigoev.
According to him, the meeting took place against the background of the Report by the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Tomas Hammarberg based on the findings of the independent experts, who, upon the request of South Ossetia, were monitoring the criminal investigation into the abduction of citizens of South Ossetia Khachirov, Khugaev and Pliev.

The Geneva Discussions on Security in the Caucasus are an important component of the settlement of security and humanitarian problems in the South Caucasus. This was stated by the Co-Chairs of the Geneva discussions, the EU, UN and OSCE envoys, after a meeting held 1 October evening in Tskhinval with South Ossetian authorities.
"We have carefully reviewed the issues to be discussed at the next round of discussions on October 14th. First issue relates to security, the second covers humanitarian problems", said the EU Envoy Pierre Morel.
According to him, the work on these issues continues outside the Geneva Discussions. Morel pointed to Report of the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg on the results of the investigation of cases of persons missing during and after the hostilities in August 2008.

On October 4, 2010, around 7:30 AM a detachment of the RF FSB Border Guard Department in South Ossetia detained a man with no identity documents near the village of Artsev, Tskhinval district of South Ossetia, at a distance of 350 meters from the border between South Ossetia and Georgia, reported the Press Service of the Border Guard Department.
It was noted that according to the detainee, he was a citizen of Georgia.

On 4 October, a meeting of the Review Conference of the OSCE in Warsaw took place. Second edition of the Venice Commission guiding principles for the OSCE was presented here.
Issues related to the implementation of the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression and freedom of associations forming the fundamentals of any democratic system were discussed.
Venice Commission provides legislative support to the OSCE participating States to assist them in ensuring the compliance of their legislation in matters relating to freedom of peaceful assembly to OSCE commitments and international standards.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree on agreements providing for cooperation and mutual assistance in customs affairs with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Russian President also authorized the Federal Customs Service of Russia to make necessary amendments in the course of negotiations to the draft agreements presented to the Government of the RF, if these amendments are not of a principal importance.
The South Ossetian side had been actively working on the draft Agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters between Russia and South Ossetia.

Report of the Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg based on the findings of two independent experts who were assigned to monitor the investigation of the cases of people missing during and after the hostilities in South Ossetia in August 2008, reflects the inaction of the Georgian law enforcement bodies and speaks for their participation in the abduction of three young citizens of South Ossetia, stated South Ossetian President's Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev. "First, I want to say that the report is very interesting. These international experts were invited upon the request of Mr. Hammarberg. We had agreed with Hammarberg that the output of the work on the missing would be discussed within the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) established by the Geneva Discussions. The report of Mr. Hammarberg should have been presented there. Somehow, we got the report without having discussed it within the IPRM", said Chochiev.

The Co-Chairmen of the Geneva Discussions on Secuirty in the Caucasus are paying a working visit to South Ossetia today. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Nurgaliyev and the UN Antti Turunen, as well as EU Envoy Pierre Morel are going to see rehabilitation of sites destroyed in August 2008 and meet with the Representative of the President of South Ossetia for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiyev and his deputy, Merab Chigoev.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia Murat Dzhioev and Advisor to the President Konstantin Kochiev are also participating in the meeting.

On September 30, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity signed a decree on dismissal of Robert Petrovich Kulumbegov from the post of the Director of Sate Broadcasting company "IR" of South Ossetia.
On the same day, the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity signed a decree on appointment of Dmitry Viktorovich Biragov, as the Company Director.