News

"Georgia had not yet turned into a real state and is now in a deep political crisis", said President of South Ossetian Eduard Kokoity commenting the political situation in Georgia.
"Rallies are being held in Tbilisi, the Georgian opposition demands for resignation of international criminal Saakashvili. He is responsible for victims of Georgian aggression," said Eduard Kokoity.
"In South and North Ossetia, the population is concerned about the last two day events and protest rallies in Georgia. Georgia tends to interpret this differently, as if Russia had started some actions against Georgia. There is nothing of the kind. The situation in South Ossetia is normal and calm. There are certain structures willing to destabilize the situation in South Ossetia".

The meeting with the Geneva talks Co-Chairmen finished in Tskhinval. According to the EU Co-Chairman Pierre Morel, the meeting discussed all planned issues. "A special attention was paid to the Incident Prevention Mechanism. A list of the sides' participants for weekly meetings will be soon announced. Creation of a hotline for regular discussion of problems and convening of emergency meetings had been envisaged", said Morel.

"A concentration of military personnel of Georgia's armed forces had been observed in the area of the village of Dirbi (in the border area adjacent to South Ossetia)", reported the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev. According to him, the "appearance of Georgian military personnel in the number of 100 with armored vehicles and artillery was observed in the village of Dirbi".

A meeting of Geneva talks Co-Chairmen with Post-Conflict Settlement Special Representative was held in Tskhinval. At the meeting, the South Ossetian side was presented with Foreign Minister Murat Djioev, HR Commissioner David Sanakoev, State Advisor Kosta Kochiev, Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Pliev, and Assistant to Post-Conflict Settlement Special Representative Merab Chigoev. The international delegation was headed by the EU Special Representative (SR) Pierre Morel. OSCE and UN representatives were also part to the delegation.
"It turned out that we usually meet close to next round of Geneva talks. Today, it is a working meeting and the visit program includes a trip to Leningori district", he said.
Chochiev had pointed to a number of shortcomings in the work of international organizations and stressed that "the Geneva talks took on a populist character, since the achieved agreements are recalled only right before the next round of the talks or close to your visit".

"The Co-Chairmen in Geneva Talks on Security in the Caucasus representing EU, OSCE and UN are taking a pro-Georgian position", stated the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev after the meeting with the Geneva Co-Chairmen.
"The Co-Chairmen are non-objective, biased and I would say, pro-Georgian. We do not see any real evaluation of the situation. They do everything to conceal the negative tendencies obvious with Georgia. With doing so, they never express their own viewpoints. In particular, the EUMM observers located in the areas adjacent to South Ossetia are pursuing their goal to conceal all facts of outrage in their area of responsibility. They do not notice 35 illegal checkpoints deployed by the Georgian side, as well as daily provocations taking place there", said Chochiev.

At the session of Interagency Commission on Rehabilitation of South Ossetia in Moscow, The meeting focused on the priority sites for rehabilitation in South Ossetia. As reported by RSO Minister for house and road construction Alan Koliev, who participated in the IAC meeting, the scope and priority tasks were identified at the meeting.

In the morning on 27 March, a U.S. citizen, the "New York Times" correspondent Christopher John Cheevers had been detained on an attempted crossing of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia in the village of Mosabruni (Leningor dstrict), reports the news release of the RSO KGB.

The Independent International Fact-finding mission on South Ossetian-Georgian conflict had published the first conclusions naming the Georgian President Saakashvili as the initiator of the hostilities. According to several media sources, the conclusion was made on the grounds of secret order by the Georgian leader about the start of operation “on restoring constitutional order” in South Ossetia.

The territory of the Republic of South Ossetia came under fire at night on 23 March from the Georgian side. As RSO State Security Committee reported to IA RES, “At 1:25 am, 24 March, a single grenade launcher shot was made at the Ossetian village of Mugut from the borderline Georgian village of Dvani. Fortunately, there were no casualties or destruction. The grenade exploded in the air.”

Rural areas are regularly provided with medicines. Deputy Government Chairman, Health and Social Development Minister Nugzar Gabarev reported this to IA RES. ”First aid posts in rural areas are provided with medicines in strict accordance with requests received from District Chief Doctors. The requests are fulfilled in two days. There was no case when we refused to provide assistance”, said Gabaraev.