Archive - 9/2012

Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia with regard to
the situation on the border with Georgia

Four years after the armed aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in August 2008 the situation in the region is still tense and is characterized by the intention of the Georgian leadership to carry out the large-scale provocations. Georgian authorities, despite the impact of August 2008, are not going to leave their revanchist sentiments.
In the territory of Georgia, which is adjacent to the border of South Ossetia and belongs to the zone of responsibility of the EU mission military observers, there is a boosting of the Georgian military presence, including armored vehicles andmultiple launch rocket systems. One can observe the newly built fortifications and almost all border settlements formed warehouses for storage of weapons. It is also observed activation of the Georgian intelligence services, transferring of the armed police posts several hundred meters closer to the border of South Ossetia, as it happened in Zardiantkari.

President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov has received today the delegation of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, led by Deputy Head of the NKR Government Minister Gary Dzhangiryan, arrived in Tskhinval to celebrate the Republic Day. The delegation has also included General Secretary of the NKR Foreign Ministry Semen Afiyan.
The Head of State welcomed the guests on the ground of South Ossetia and thanked them for their attention in such a significant date for the Republic.

More than a hundred refugees, living in the country, claim to citizenship of South Ossetia.
As the head of the Committee on Migration Policy of the RSO Vladimir Ushakov said IA "Res", the Commission on Citizenship of the RSO was engaged in the questions of granting citizenship to refugees.
"It is planned to grant citizenship to the people who were forced to leave the territory of Georgia because of persecution from the early 1990's. They must submit all the required documents, and then the committee during the year will consider and decide whether to grant them citizenship or not,"- explained Ushakov.

On the invitation of the youth wing of the People's Party of the Republic of South Ossetia the youth delegations from the Slovak Republic, the Republic of Transdniestria and the Russian Federation will arrive in South Ossetia to participate in the celebrations of the 22th anniversary of proclamation of the Republic of South Ossetia.
As the Chairman of the youth wing of the People's Party of South Ossetia Mikhail Kochiev reported IA "Res", for the guests had been arranged an interesting and rich program with visiting the notable places, related to the struggle for independence, and interesting meetings.

On the eve of parliamentary elections the domestic political struggle in Georgia became extremely heated. And the priorities in the Georgian society are not in favor of Saakashvili.
There is a possibility that the population of the country, tired of the ill-conceived and adventurist policy of the current regime, will give their votes to "renovationists" in the person of supporters of B. Ivanishvili.
Naturally, Saakashvili will never accept such political spectrum.

Special attention at the meeting with the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions was focused on placing and strengthening the Georgian posts along the border with South Ossetia.
This has been declared by Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement of South Ossetia Murat Dzhioev at the briefing in Tskhinval.
"This fact has caused our anxiety, taken into account the previous years, when the Georgian side in the days of our holidays or during the important events in Georgia, was undertaking various provocations," - said the envoy.

Today in Tskhinval President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov has declared at the meeting with the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions that the Georgian side is conducting intensive preparations for a war around the perimeter of the border with South Ossetia.

Co-Chairs of the Geneva discussions on Security in Transcaucasia, arrived today in South Ossetia on a working visit, have met in Tskhinval with the South Ossetian negotiators.
Opening the meeting, the Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev expressed the hope that this visit would further strengthen security in the region, and the parties would be satisfied with the work done.

One of the most popular topics in the Georgian media is the strategic command-staff maneuvers "Caucasus-2012", which has started today, September 17, 2012. Georgian media regularly publish the articles and broadcast the discussions associated with these maneuvers. The main objective of these broadcastsis to suggest an idea to the Georgian and international community that after such maneuvers in 2008 Georgia became involved in a war with Russia and has lost 20% of its original territory occupied by Moscow. The fact that in August 2008 it was the Georgian army which attacked the Russian peacekeepers, who had been serving in accordance with the interstate Dagomys agreement and it was Georgia, which tried to wipe the South Ossetian capital together with its inhabitants off the map, has not been even indirectly mentioned in the Georgian media.

September 18 is expected the visit of the delegation of the Co-Chairmen of the Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia to South Ossetia.
As IA "Res" has been informed at the office of the presidential envoy for post-conflict settlement, the delegation will include the co-chairs of the EU, UN and OSCE- Philippe Lefort, Antti Turunen and Podrig Murphy, as well as representatives of the international organizations.