On the outcome of the 30th round of international discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia
December 9-10, 2014 in Geneva was held a regular meeting in the framework of international discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia, with the participation of delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as the EU, UN and OSCE representatives. South Ossetian delegation was headed by Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev.
The participants of the discussions, held in accordance with the August 12 and September 8, 2008 Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements, focused on discussing the ways to ensure the non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia and Abkhazia and to strengthen security and stability in the region. The South Ossetian delegation in the course of the talks has again urged the participants in the discussions to intensify the work on the bilateral Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz agreement on non-use of force, which must be legally binding with solid international guarantees.
The preparation of such legally binding agreements to ensure the people of South Ossetia and Abkhazia safety is the main objective of the Geneva talks. South Ossetian delegation again proposed to adopt a joint declaration on the commitment by all parties to the principle of non-use of force. The Georgian delegation, however, referring to the factors unrelated to the Geneva process, has refrained from defining its position on the issue. During the meeting of the expert groups on the text of the joint statement on non-use of force, the draft of which had previously been proposed by the Russian delegation, the participants did not come to a mutually acceptable position.
When discussing security issue on the South Ossetian-Georgian border, participants of the meeting noted the relatively stable situation, without serious incidents. Statistics shows a significant reduction in the number of border violations, as well as consideration of interests and needs of residents of the border areas by the authorities of South Ossetia. At the same time it was noted the destabilizing course of actions of the Georgian side to buildup information tension around the boundary points of intersection. The South Ossetian delegation reiterated the earlier repeatedly made suggestions to the Georgian side to start working together on delimitation and demarcation of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia.
The participants of the meeting noted the effective actions of the Mechanism to prevent and respond to incidents in the area of South Ossetian-Georgian border, regularly conducting meetings within the framework of the Geneva discussions.
At the same time, South Ossetian and Abkhaz delegations expressed concern about the new projects for rapprochement between Georgia and NATO military bloc and the ongoing aggressive statements of the Georgian authorities against South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
It was also discussed a range of humanitarian issues, in particular, a problem to clarify the fate of the missing citizens of South Ossetia. Representatives of the international organizations assured to assist in accelerating this process. The agreement was reached to start the work on the draft joint document to clarify the fate of the missing persons.
South Ossetian representatives have also reiterated to the Georgian side their proposal on the mutual release of prisoners that would enhance mutual trust, noting that as an act of goodwill South Ossetian authorities pardoned a citizen of Georgia and are ready to continue this humanitarian action on a reciprocal basis.
South Ossetian representatives have issued a statement, which says that the resumption of the discussion of the subject matter of refugees at the Geneva discussions will be possible if Georgia stops the attempts to artificially politicize this issue.
As part of the 30th round of the Geneva discussions it was organized the information session, where international experts made reports on the practice of international cooperation in emergency situations.
At the end of the meeting took place a joint meeting of the two working groups on the results of the round.
The next round of the Geneva talks is scheduled for March 2015.
Geneva, December 11, 2014
