South Ossetia again calls on Georgia to abandon the policy of provocations and military threats, President of the Republic Anatoly Bibilov said on Thursday, commenting on, at the request of "Res" the statement of the Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly in New York on the need to change the format of the Geneva discussions, " transition from expert discussions to real political negotiations. "
"Before Mrs. Zurabishvili talked about any concrete steps, Georgia should first sign a binding document on the non-use of force, because it was Georgia, not Russia and, especially, not South Ossetia, that unleashed the war in 2008, which is confirmed by the authoritative report of the EU Commission, "said the head of state.
Bibilov noted that, without exception, the leaders of Georgia spoke and are talking about the political steps that they are ready to take.
"But in reality, Georgia’s steps are always associated with provocations and destabilization of the situation. And this is a well-known fact," the President said.
He called concrete steps that could contribute to the normalization of relations between South Ossetia and Georgia
“First of all, this is recognition of the independence of the Republic of South Ossetia, compensation for the economic damage caused to the Republic over decades of aggressive policy. And the first step today could be the immediate removal of the illegal post of the Georgian police in the Tsnelis village of Znaur district of South Ossetia and the withdrawal of armed groups of Georgia from there, " President of the Republic said.
Then, Bibilov noted, the sincerity of the words of Ms. Zurabishvili would not be called into question.
"So far, unfortunately, we do not see Georgia’s desire to take concrete actions to de-escalate tension," he stressed.
The head of state also recalled that the Georgian leadership should take into account that the so-called «Georgian-Ossetian conflict" was settled in 2008 "after the barbaric attack of the Georgian army on the international peacekeeping forces and the bombing of Tskhinval."
It should be noted that earlier President of South Ossetia, during a meeting with the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions, asked international organizations to provide an opportunity to speak from their stands and talk about the real situation in the Republic, since "the one-sided information provided by the Georgian authorities, including from the UN rostrum is unreliable. "
