On Wednesday, South Ossetia will celebrate the 29th anniversary of the introduction of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, and next year the unique peacekeeping operation will mark the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Joint Peace and Law Enforcement Forces (JPKF) in the Georgian - Ossetian conflict zone. The JPKF was introduced into the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict on July 14, 1992 and became the guarantor of peace for the next 16 years until Georgia's attack on South Ossetia in August 2008.
Initially, it was assumed that they would also perform police functions and functions of law enforcement agencies. However, this idea was subsequently abandoned, and the JPKF was renamed the JPKF - Mixed Peacekeeping Force.
These were motorized rifle battalions from Russia, Georgia and North Ossetia. This is an interesting point, because, according to Russian legislation, its regions cannot have their own armed formations.
However, if the international treaty of Russia contradicts the domestic law, then the requirements of the international treaty were fulfilled, and a peacekeeping battalion was formed in North Ossetia to ensure peace, law and order. This decision was not legally ensured properly, and citizens who were serving in it in the future faced a serious problem.
The peacekeepers faced especially big problems when they retired, and thanks to the head of state Anatoly Bibilov, the issue was resolved literally last year. South Ossetia has not yet been recognized even as a party to the conflict, therefore, of course, initially there was no question of South Ossetia's own peacekeeping battalion taking part in the settlement.
The peacekeeping forces were transferred to the Joint Control Commission for the Settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict, of which South Ossetia was not originally part of either. However, subsequently Russia and Georgia reached a consensus on the possibility of including South Ossetia in the negotiation process as a full-fledged, equal party. Thus, although South Ossetia was not politically recognized, within the framework of the JCC, it received equal rights not only with North Ossetia and Georgia, but with such a great power as Russia.
This allowed the leadership of the Republic to use more significant levers to defend the rights of the people of South Ossetia at a high international diplomatic level.
A new step towards the growth of the level and international authority of the negotiation process took place in 1993, when an agreement was signed on the temporary opening of a Field Office of the CSCE Mission in Georgia in Tskhinval. The CSCE was subsequently renamed the OSCE. Although the office was called the "field", in fact, it was quite stationary and performed full-fledged work on monitoring the situation and not only.
South Ossetia, making this decision, was guided by the consideration that the CSCE / OSCE staff would inform the European states through their Foreign Ministries about the real state of affairs in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. This position was taken by the leaders of South Ossetia due to the inertia of Soviet thinking, when the communist leaders and the media of the CSCE were mentioned only in a positive way, and one of its founders was the USSR, which directly, and no longer through Georgia, included South Ossetia after Georgia withdrew from the USSR on April 9, 1991, in accordance with the Act of Restoring Georgia's State Independence adopted by the Supreme Council of Georgia.
Peacekeeping battalions from the parties involved in the settlement process were initially led by their own commanders. These were three equal battalions, each with its own commander, carrying out the decisions of the JCC. However, in 2002, when the Georgian battalion of the JPKF refused to take part in the festive events, it was decided to abolish the positions of the commanders of the Georgian and Ossetian battalions, transforming them into senior military commanders of the respective battalions and leaving only one commander - from Russia, who at the same time became the commander of all three battalions.
At the same time, the other parties received the right to approve a new commander within the JCC. The Georgian party gladly used its right and did not approve General Nabzdorov for a long time, and then sought his replacement.
Until 2004, all - both South Ossetian and Russian and Western politicians recognized the invaluable role of the peacekeeping forces, as well as the Joint Control Commission.
"The peacekeeping operation under the auspices of Russia, conducted in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, is the most successful international peacekeeping operation in the whole world," they vied with each other repeating this phrase for 12 years.
However, in 2003, a coup d’état took place in Georgia, and Saakashvili came to power, who headed for the destruction of the negotiation formats both through the JCC and through the plenipotentiary delegations of the parties. He hoped to defeat South Ossetia and Abkhazia with a lightning-fast victorious war and, by capturing their territories, enter the history of Georgia.
Political leaders of the Western countries wade a decision to support the aggressive policy of Georgia, starting its reinforced armament and discredit the role of the JCC format and the peacekeeping forces. However, a sharp ideological turn in this issue was no longer possible, and despite the fact that some Western politicians made statements against the JCC and the JPKF, their artificiality and bias was clear to everyone who followed the situation for a long time.
Georgia began provocations against the JPKF, unsuccessfully forcing Russia and Ossetia to abandon this format. On August 7, the Georgian peacekeepers left their places of deployment and joined the regular units of the Georgian army, which began shelling their yesterday's colleagues - Russian and Ossetian peacekeepers and civilians, whom they were supposed to jointly protect and defend. In their treachery, the Georgian peacekeepers surpassed even Hitler's troops, because the German soldiers were not personally acquainted with the Soviet soldiers.
However, that's another story.
Russia managed to achieve the introduction of trilateral peacekeeping forces into the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict under its auspices and with its leading role. This was of great political importance both for the settlement issue and for the growth of Russia's international prestige.
Russia demonstrated that it was interested in a strong international peace, especially at its borders, is able to protect its friends and allies, following the exact line of international legal acts.
And, of course, it should be reminded once again that the greatest importance of. the deployment of peacekeepers was that the peacekeeping operation under the auspices of Russia, conducted in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, was the most successful international peacekeeping operation in the whole world.
In South Ossetia, Peacekeeper Day is included in the state calendar of holidays and memorable dates and is celebrated annually.
Authorship:
Analytical department of the IA "Res"
