News

Russian Orthodox Church again brought humanitarian assistance to war-affected people in South Ossetia. IA RES learnt this from Oleg Kalimullin, Consultant of Department for Church External Relations.
According to him, “the humanitarian aid includes kitchenware and bed-linen (270 sets) and hygienic items, which were handed over to Humanitarian Commission of South Ossetia. It is desirable that this assistance goes to those who completely lost their housing in rural areas of the republic”.

The fifth round of Geneva discussions on security and stability in South Caucasus has finished. In accordance with the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements of 12 August and 8 September, delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, the Russian Federation, Georgia, and representatives of the EU, UN, OSCE and the USA participate on an equal basis.
It was possible to gather a joint session with all parties’ participation once the problems, which had complicated the discussions due to certain intrigues around the UN Secretary General’s Report, were overcome.

On 18 May, the fifth round of international discussions on security and stability in South Caucasus was expected to start in Geneva. In accordance with Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement of 12 August and 8 September, delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, the Russian Federation, as well as representatives of the EU, UN, OSCE and the United States, participate in the Geneva discussions on an equal basis.

On the ongoing NATO exercise in Georgia
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia expresses deep regret about the fact that the NATO leadership happened to be unable to draw any conclusions from the tragic events of August 2008, which were a direct consequence of NATO’s flirting with the current Georgian regime. In this regard, the multinational NATO exercise held 6 May-1June on the territory of Georgia with the participation of its armed forces causes serious concerns.

The Russian side does not exclude a possibility of future provocations by Georgia linked with the NATO exercise there. The RF Ambassador Extraordinary in South Ossetia Elbrus Kargiev reported this to RES Agency.
“The state which committed aggression against South Ossetia last August is today hosting the NATO exercise that implies support to the current aggressive regime in Georgia. NATO exercise usually teach how to defend, while Georgia learns its attack’s lessons,” stated Kargiev.

The process of restoration of re-establishment of border-guard units is ongoing”, reported the Head of Border-guard Department of Russia’s FSB in South Ossetia Col. Alexander Murzin at the press-conference in Tskhinval.
“We have already started our duties at certain sector, which the Border-guard service is responsible for. Presently, 6 border-guard units are simultaneously at their locations of deployment”, said Murzin.

‘We are ready for cooperation with all international organizations which are willing to get an objective picture of the situation in the South Caucasus”, said the RSO Foreign Minister Murat Djioev commenting on the Vienna discussion on the new working plan for the OSCE Mission.
”South Ossetia after August 2008 had repeatedly addressed the OSCE with proposals on identifying frames for future cooperation”, he reminded. “Unfortunately, so far our relations have not been setteled. OSCE cannot certainly work in South Ossetia as it did before the aggression of Georgia.

The fifth round of Geneva talks on security in the Caucasus will take place on 18-19 May in Geneva, reported the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev. He underlined that “these are discussions, not negotiations on the situation related to Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia”.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is desperately trying to save its Mission, which should finally leave the Caucasus end of June. On 13 May, Permanent Council of the OSCE with representatives of the 56 member states is planning to discuss another variant of further activities of this Organization in Georgia and South Ossetia.

A meeting between the South Ossetian side’s representatives and the EUMM was held, reported the Deputy Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Merab Chigoev.
According to Chigoev, “on 11 May we were called from the EUMM HQ and informed that an incident occurred to the EU military monitors in the vicinity to the village of Dvan at the Georgian-Ossetian borderline. “