22-23 March 2016 in Geneva took placethe 35th round of international discussions on security in Transcaucasia, attended by the 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 Plenipotentiary Envoy for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev.
The discussions were held in two working groups: on security and humanitarian issues.
The representatives of the South Ossetian delegation in the introductory statements have noted the fact of the tripartite release of prisoners on March 10, 2016, carried out by the authorities of South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Georgia, and expressed gratitude to all those involved in this process, including in the framework of the Geneva process. The parties have stressed that the release of prisoners is the result of interaction between participants of the Geneva discussions.
During the discussion, the South Ossetian side again raised the question of the fate of the missing citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia. International mediators have assured that the work on the investigation of cases of the missing citizens of South Ossetia will be continued by a specially invited independent international expert.
The discussion of the first working group was focused on the non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as to ensure security and stability in the region. It was continued the experts work to elaborate the statement on the non-use of force. Since the full statement was not agreed again, the South Ossetian delegation proposed to take a brief statement on the commitment to a peaceful settlement, the text of which would consist of provisions that would not cause controversy. The proposal was supported by the majority of participants; however, representatives of Georgia once again declined to discuss the project. The work on it will be continued at the next round.
South Ossetian participants rejected the attempts of the Georgian delegation to link the discussion of security issues in the region with bilateral South Ossetian-Russian relations, stressing that the South Ossetian-Russian relations are based and developed solely on the basis of international law and fully comply with the interests of peace and security in the region.
Discussing the issues of stability and security in the areas of the South Ossetian-Georgian border, the participants noted the lack of recent serious incidents. At the same time it was considered provocative activity of the Georgian side in the border areas, the fact of deliberate violations of the state border. South Ossetian participants once again reminded the Georgian side about the proposal of the authorities of the Republic of South Ossetia to begin a bilateral joint work on delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia.
The panelists noted the effectiveness of the Mechanism for preventing and responding to incidents (IPRM) in the area of the South Ossetian-Georgian border functioning within the framework of the Geneva discussions, as an important factor of stability and security in the area of the Georgian-South Ossetian border, as well as the IPRM "hot line" South Ossetian participants drew attention of the Georgian participants and the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia to the inadmissibility of violation of the state border in connection with the upcoming season to collect wild plants.
The representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia expressed serious concern regarding security and stability in connection with the ongoing threat to the region by Georgia's rapprochement with NATOand the creation of the NATO infrastructure in the territory of Georgia on the background of the continuing aggressive rhetoric against South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the Georgian authorities. It was also noted that in Georgia, particularly in the Pankisi Gorge is functioning the training base of the terrorist organization DAESH.
Participants of the meeting characterized the propagandistic steps of the Georgian authorities, aimed at obtruding their vision upon international structures through the reporting of the alleged "human rights violations" in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and preventing arrival of international representatives in South Ossetia,.
They have also discussed humanitarian issues. The participants agreed at the meeting in Geneva to proceed with the approval of the draft document, reflecting the general principles of approach to the problem of missing persons. Discussing the issues of cultural heritage, the South Ossetian participants again raised the question of the return of the unique icon-triptych, stolen from the Museum of South Ossetia and now being in Georgia. Once again they have focused on the problem of threat to the preservation of the Ossetian historical and cultural monuments in the Eastern Ossetia which is under the control of Georgia, where is not allowed the expelled Ossetian population. Ossetian representatives reiterated their call to allow the experts to survey and assess the monuments of the Ossetian historical and architectural heritage in Tyrsygom Valley.
In the course of the meeting there was not any discussion of the problem of refugees. It is expected that the resumption of the issue of refugees will be possible after cessation of Georgia's attempts of artificial politicization of the problem.
The next round of discussions is scheduled for June 2016.
Geneva, 24 March 2016
