The Georgian side is used to politicizing humanitarian issues, namely the gas supply for South Ossetia, while it is presenting the situation to the international community as a technical problem”, stated the post Conflict Settlement minister Boris Chochiev commenting on problems related to gas supply through the territory of Georgia.
“Tbilisi expected that the international community would appreciate the fact that Georgia had resumed gas supply for South Ossetia in January. In fact, they practically did not provide us with gas. It means that they make political statements while the reality is different. The gas pressure remains 0.5 atmospheres through the whole period. The maximum pressure was observed on March 11. The day before they switched off the gas, after they resumed the supply next day, the pressure reached 6 atmospheres. The next day, the Georgian side turned off the valve thinking that one day of normal gas pressure was enough to show the so-called “Georgian good will”, stressed Chochiev.
The minister reported that today, on 16 March, he had a meeting with Werner Johannides, an independent expert assigned by Geneva consultations to deal with gas and water supply problems.
”Johannides examined the situation in Georgia, and now he is here, in South Ossetia. He already had a meeting with me. He will be meeting ENERGETICA Director. The expert was quite surprised with the situation. The pipeline pressure in Georgia corresponded to the pressure recorded on the South Ossetian side (the Georgian side stated that it had been providing gas in full). We suggested the independent expert installing his control meters both here and in Georgia to be able to check and compare the pressure indicators in South Ossetia and in Georgia. Mr, Johannides was also offered holding weekly monitoring on both sides of the borderline”, said Chochiev.
“Since Werner Johaniddes is also a water expert assigned by Geneva talks and is responsible to work on this issues as well, it was agreed that Georgian and South Ossetian experts together with Johannides hold a meeting on technical status of irrigation system providing water from South Ossetia to Georgia, and most important, that they agree on the price for this water supply. Once should pay for everything, especially in today’s realities. Unlike Georgia, we are not politicizing the problem”, stressed the minister.
