Non-constructive position of Georgia did not allow the participants of the Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia to progress in discussion of the document on the non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia. This was stated by Presidential Envoy, a head of the South Ossetian delegation at the Geneva talks Murat Dzhioev at today's meeting of the South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov with the heads of law enforcement agencies. The envoy has said the atmosphere of the discussions was very tense.
"Members of the Georgian delegation were laconic, not expressing the slightest desire for constructiveness. The situation reminded the same in The Hague in 2003 on the eve of the presidential elections in Georgia, where the Georgian delegation had been afraid even of the shadow of each other. "- said Dzhioev.
He has said that on the first day of the discussions was held the information session, during which they discussed the legal significance of unilateral declarations on the non-use of force.
"All the arguments of experts have come to the fact that if such declarations are not supported by the state and international obligations, they are easily broken. It was also said that if the president of one of the country had guaranteed not to use force, and then had brought down fire on the sleeping city, of course, these guarantees could not be trusted. For the Georgian side the experts` opinion was obviously surprising, hurting their position ", - said the envoy.
According to him, the South Ossetian delegation also raised the issue of holding a joint final meeting, but through fault of the Georgian delegation the parties did not reach a consensus on this question.
"The key issue of the discussions was the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia. We have noted that all the works on the defining of the borderline are conducted within the framework of sovereign actions of South Ossetia, in accordance with our legislation, and at a certain distance from the borderline in the territory of South Ossetia. We did not penetrate a meter into the territory of Georgia ", - said Dzhioev.
The Georgian side also introduced video material, but was unable to prove allegations that the South Ossetian side violated the state border.
"Their arguments boiled down to the fact that the borderline hindered the local residents to cultivate land and graze cattle. We have announced that their cattle will not be grazed in our territory, and their farmers will not cultivate our land, "- said the envoy.
Dzhioev has also said that the non-constructive position of Georgia did not allow to progress in the elaboration of the document on the non-use of force.
"The draft statement, on which we had been working for a few rounds, was almost blocked by our opponents ", - he explained.
The envoy said that the participants of the discussions were also unable to agree on the date of the next round of talks.
"We have been told that it is pointless to conduct the talks before the next presidential elections in Georgia. After the election, we will be able to talk about the further work "- added Dzhioev.
He has added, the co-chairs of the Geneva talks were given a letter of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Ossetia with an offer to act as mediators between the Georgian and South Ossetian sides to work on the delimitation and demarcation of the border.
