Security issues, the situation on the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia, violations of the state border and flights of unmanned aerial vehicles were discussed at the meeting within the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanisms (IPRM) on Thursday in the border village of Ergnet.
Yegor Kochiev, the head of the South Ossetian side, Deputy Presidential Plenipotentiary Envoy for post-conflict settlement, told reporters about this after the meeting.
According to him, the main issue at the meetings in the IPRM format for several years has been the removal of the illegal Georgian checkpoint, .set up on the territory of South Ossetia, near the village of Uista (Tsnelis).
“Until now, we have not yet come to a consensus and there is no any solution. However, the South Ossetian side raises this issue at every meeting and does its best to come to a mutually acceptable solution. The post should be removed and withdrawn from the territory of South Ossetia,” Kochiev said.
He reminded that the issue of removing the illegal post has long been on the agenda of the IPRM participants. Egor Kochiev believes that the post is a political decision made by the Georgian government.
“At the meeting, the representative of Georgia said that the post did not carry any load. They talk about it all the time. We emphasize every time that since it does not carry any load, then setting up the post was absolutely senselessness. And therefore, the most logical conclusion of this destabilization of the situation will be the withdrawal of the post from the South Ossetian territory,” he has stressed.
The head of the South Ossetian delegation assured the journalists that they were making steps towards the Georgian side, and one of them he called the opening of the temporary checkpoints for residents of the Leningor and Dzau districts.
“During ten days of each month, the population of these districts has the opportunity to cross the border with special passes and travel to Georgia. Someone goes to relatives, others for medical care, etc. This issue was also discussed at the meeting, and the South Ossetian party reminded yjt colleagues that the opening of checkpoints is a humanitarian step on the part of South Ossetia, and now we are waiting for reciprocal measures, including on Tsnelis, too,” Yegor Kochiev said.
Since the last meeting, six cases of violation of the state border by Georgia have been recorded, and as the head of the South Ossetian delegation has specified, all violators were expelled to the territory of Georgia.
As for the flights of drones, Kochiev called this issue important, and it was raised again at the meeting. However, according to him, they cannot find out the identity of the drones.
"The Georgian party, as a rule, does not confirm that the flying objects belong to them," he explained.
Afterword
Earlier, South Ossetian journalists were assured that they would be able to ask questions of interest to the heads of delegations of the meeting in the IPRM format. However, when representatives of the media of South Ossetia approached the venue of the meeting, they were not allowed to go to the participants of the dialogue because of the red ribbon, which was installed on both sides of the tents.
Egor Kochiev, commenting on this situation, has stressed that he is not against communicating with journalists from both South Ossetia and Georgia, since he has the opportunity to bring the opinion of the South Ossetian authorities to the Georgian audience.
“At the last meeting, Georgian journalists wanted to talk to me, but since I was not informed in advance that they would be allowed to the meeting place, I could not inform the South Ossetian journalists about this either. Therefore, I suggested that journalists from both sides be invited to the next meeting in order to maintain corporate ethics. That is, if I comment on the results of the meeting to Georgian journalists, then I must inform the South Ossetian mass media as well. Why such a situation has developed today, I do not know. Moreover, I was sure that Georgian and South Ossetian journalists would be able to enter the territory of the meeting, and we would be able to talk. I think that the co-moderators of the meeting, the OSCE and the EU, should answer this question. This issue was not raised at the meeting,” Kochiev stressed.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 17th.
Meetings in the IPRM format are held within the framework of the Geneva discussions on security in the Caucasus. The dialogue is attended by representatives of South Ossetia, Russia, Georgia, the European Union and the OSCE.
The IPRM format is highly appreciated by the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions, and they note the importance of the Hot Line operating under the mechanism in maintaining stability and resolving many border issues.
