The official delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia at the Geneva international discussions took part in the plenary session of the 19th round. As reported to IA "Res" over the telephone from Geneva, by the Head of delegation, the Plenipotentiary of the President of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement Boris Chochiev, the "contentious debates on the future development of the draft agreement on the nonuse of force by Georgia against the Republic of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was held in the course of the meeting." "The Russian side has proposed a draft statement of the Geneva discussions on Transcaucasia on the nonuse of force, - said Boris Chochiev. - However, the Georgian side once again did not agree with this project.
An agreement was reached, regardless of the consent of the other parties, to continue working on the draft agreement. "He recalled that at the 17th round of the Geneva international discussions, the delegation of South Ossetia had proposed to dedicate the plenary meeting and the information session for discussing the misuse of the term "occupied territories" in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In this regard, according to Chochiev, despite the strong resistance of the Georgian delegation and almost all the international representatives, South Ossetia and Abkhazia have made a positive decision of the issue."At the next, 20th session, inviting the international experts and experts from the parties, the information session will be held, which will examine the illegality of using the term ''occupied territories'' with regard to South Ossetia and Abkhazia" - the authorized representative stressed. Boris Chochiev has also pointed out, that he applied to the representative of the United States, participating in the Geneva discussions on this subject; Chochiev declared, that considering the fact that the U.S. State Department, as well as the EU, PACE and other international organizations often called South Ossetia and Abkhazia the "occupied", the Geneva discussions should invite their experts."You do not give us visas, do not give the opportunity to come to the U.S. and to challenge the validity of the term, then invite your experts here on the discussion and let them convince us that South Ossetia is occupied" –the South Ossetian diplomat said to the U.S. representative.
"I`ve made a statement that some part of the territory of South Ossetia were actually occupied, but occupied by Georgia, and that de-occupation of these territories occurred in August 2008" - . Chochiev underlined.
A member of the Georgian delegation Dmitry Sanakoev, after it was agreed to hold a hearing on the matter, has said: "Why should I listen to the international experts? What can they tell me? I officially announce that South Ossetia and Abkhazia – are the territories of Georgia, occupied by Russia."
What about the second working group for discussion the humanitarian issues, this time the problem of refugees has not been discussed, but the issues relating to clarification of the fate of missing persons and other humanitarian issues have been talked over. It has been reached an agreement with the Georgian side to continue the practice of mutual transfer of detainees, which has a positive effect on post-conflict settlement.The Plenipotentiary reported that the next round of negotiations would be held in Geneva on June7-8.The delegation of South Ossetia has also included the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the RSO Murat Dzhioev, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement Merab Chigoev and other officials.The Geneva discussions are conducted since October 2008 on the basis of the agreements of the presidents of Russia and France, reached after the events of August 2008 in South Ossetia. The Geneva talks are attended by delegations of South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the U.S. and the EU, UN and OSCEon equal grounds.
