On 15-16 December 2010, the 14th round of international discussions on security and stability in South Caucasus took place in Geneva. As before, delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the RF and the U.S. participated in the meeting Co-Chairs by the UN, EU and OSCE.
Within the frameworks of the agenda of the first working group on security, an exchange of views on the situation in the area adjacent to the state border of South Ossetia and Georgia was held. It was noted that the situation remains generally stable, the number of incidents was decreasing. At the same time, the delegation of South Ossetia has expressed its concern about the facts of violation of the airspace of South Ossetia, as well as illegally crossing of the state border.
Representatives of South Ossetia emphasized that one of the reasons for these violations was the lack of awareness on borderline. It was stated that due to reluctance of the Georgian side to respond to the proposals to conduct joint activities on delimitation and demarcation of the border between South Ossetia and Georgia, the South Ossetian side had to unilaterally determine and fix the border line on the ground. These works are already underway and will be completed.
The first group focused on the recent unilateral declaration of the Georgian leader Saakashvili, President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity and President of the Republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh on nonuse of force. Despite the unacceptable tone of the statement made by Saakashvili against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, South Ossetian and Abkhazian delegations insisted on the discussion of these statements, which create a new situation in the Geneva discussions as an interim step in the preparation and signing of agreements on non-use of force corraborated by international guarantees.
The South Ossetian side once again drew attention to the destructive position of the Georgian side and the idleness of the EU monitoring mission in Georgia with regard to missing citizens of South Ossetia captured by representatives of security and military forces of Georgia before and in 2008, kept in detention and then disappeared.
The second working group focused on issues of refugees and set of humanitarian issues in general. The delegation of South Ossetia insisted on the urgent necessity to resolve the issue of gas supply to Leningor district in view of the approaching winter. The supply of natural gas through Georgia to Leningor district was suspended in August 2008 and since then, it has not been resumed under various pretexts. The South Ossetian participants drew particular attention to the refugee problem sabotaged by the Georgian side for many years.
The South Ossetian participants reaffirmed their commitment to the initiative voiced during the previous meeting to start unilateral work on creation of conditions for the return of refugees to Leningor area since 1989. The South Ossetian side requested the UNHCR to assist and facilitate the settlement of this problem. It was noted that Georgia continued to ignore South Ossetia's initiative on refugees using the fate of these people for their political goals.
