It has been almost two years that the residents of Leningor district of South Ossetia are not getting Russian gas transited through Georgia. This issues has been discussed at the last round of Geneva talks on security in the Caucasus. As Boris Chochiev, the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement, reported to RES Agency, there were no real steps taken by anyone, including international organizations, to settle this humanitarian problem.
"It has been almost two years that the residents of Leningor district of South Ossetia are facing difficult living conditions, especially in winter. People are suffering not only in terms of their private housing conditions, but the educational institutions, including the orphanage and schools, are also in difficult situation. The are deprived of the possibility to heat the premises to ensure proper functioning. The district administration had to merge three Georgian schools into one and heat the building with black oil," reported Chochiev. He underlined that Georgia is implementing its political intrigues with the silent consent of the international community. "If anything similar were done by the authorities of South Ossetia, there would be a world-known sensation made up out of the situation", stated the Special Representative. According to him, during the two-day work (27-28 January) in Geneva, the South Ossetian delegation was assured that pressure would be imposed on the Georgian side to resume gas supply to Leningor district.
"Nonetheless, as it already happened before, the Geneva discussions were held and everybody forgot about this problem", said the Special Representative. He expressed his assurance that the Geneva discussions Co-Chairs would "remember" about the gas supply to Leningor district short before the next round of talks planned for 30 March: "There is an obvious demagogy – something has been reportedly done, but in reality, there are no visible results in two years. This kind of situation prevails since the second round of talks in Geneva in September 2008".
"In Geneva, they tried to link the gas supply problem with that of rehabilitation at irrigation system on the territory of South Ossetia supplying Georgia with water. We made this concession and on 9 February, I have informed the Co-Chairs on the agreement of South Ossetia to settle the issue with rehabilitation of irrigation cannels of the territory of our state, as soon as Georgia resumes the gas supply to Leningor district of South Ossetia".
