Today the Republic of South Ossetia was visited by Ambassadors of several Western Countries and the United States. The delegation was formed by: the Ambassador of France Fillip Lefor, Ambassador of Germany Patricia Flor, Ambassador of the USA John Theft, Ambassador of Great Britain Donald MacLaren, Ambassador of Italy Fabricio Romano, as well as the Head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia Ambassador Roy Reev. The delegation was received by the President of the RSO Eduard Kokoity. From the Ossetian side in the meeting participated First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the RSO, Co-Chairman for the South-Ossetian side of the JCC Boris Chochiev, Sate Counselor to the RSO President – Konstantin Kochiev, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the RSO – Murat Jioev.
The meeting was tensed and did not give any constructive results. In their speeches the European Ambassadors emphasized the shooting by the Ossetian side at the Georgian military helicopter that supposedly carried on board Minister of Defense of Georgia Irakli Okruashvili. The impression was that the Ambassadors forgot that they were in a zone of an internationally recognized conflict and qualified the fact of shooting at the helicopter as a crime. It should be noted that flight of any military aircrafts in the conflict zone is a violation of all the agreements attained by the JCC.
The President of RSO Eduard Kokoity noted that the helicopter that violated the air space was acting aggressively and provoked adequate measures from the Ossetian side.
”For us, said Eduard Kokoity, the priority is to ensure security for our citizen regardless their ethnicity, therefore the aggressive statements of the Georgian side to solve the problem of South Ossetia within 24 hours force us to be ready for any developments. This is exacerbated by the refusal of the Georgian leadership to sign any agreements on denial of force push us ”.
However, the Ambassadors, without reacting on the arguments of the opponents, with obstinacy continued to repeat that it was unacceptable to shoot at any aircrafts regardless their origin and conduct.
In the end the both sides expressed hope that the same meetings will take place in future and will be more productive.
