The situation on the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia at the next round of international Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia was characterized as relatively stable with individual elements of tension. This is stated in the message of the South Ossetian delegation.
On December 5-6, 2023, the next, 59th round of international discussions on security in Transcaucasia took place in Geneva. The meeting was attended by delegations from South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as the EU, UN and the OSCE representatives. The South Ossetian delegation was headed by State Advisor to the President Konstantin Kochiev.
During the meeting, the participants have expressed a common opinion regarding the importance of the Geneva format, which has become the important factor of stability during its existence as a negotiating platform on regional security issues.
“The discussions took place in two working groups: on security and on humanitarian issues. The focus of the first working group was on discussing current issues of regional security. The South Ossetian delegation drew the participants’ attention to the ongoing provocations on the Georgian side, the facts of intentional violation of the state border and the importance of marking the state border line to prevent unintentional violations,” the statement said.
The South Ossetian delegation again invited the Georgian party to begin the joint delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia.
Representatives of the Republic of South Ossetia have also noted, that special attention was paid to the continuing deepening of military-political cooperation between Georgia and NATO and the increasing the presence of the North Atlantic Military Alliance on the territory of the neighboring state, which is regarded as a serious challenge to regional stability and a threat to the security of South Ossetia.
“Participants in the discussions described the situation in the work on the draft document on the commitment to the principle of non-use of force as a dead end, but the South Ossetian participants called for continued discussion of this key area. The effectiveness and expediency of continuing the work of the Mechanism for Prevention and Response to Incidents in the area of the South Ossetian-Georgian Border (IPRM) and the existing hotline, created in the format of the Geneva discussions, was again noted,” the message reads..
As part of the work of the second working group, the South Ossetian delegation, despite the extremely destructive position of the Georgian participants and rude attacks on the South Ossetian, Russian and Abkhaz parties, raised a number of important humanitarian issues, the central place among which was the fate of the missing citizens of South Ossetia.
The South Ossetian participants have noted that the assurances of the current Georgian authorities on the responsible attitude to the search for missing persons do not in any way affect the results of the work. In addition, it was noted that progress in this direction could become the important element in establishing trust between the neighboring states and would have a positive impact on the atmosphere of the Geneva discussions.
Attention was again drawn to Georgia's gross violations of the rights of Ossetians - natives of the Kazbegi region (Tyrsygom), who for several years were not been able to gain access to their ancestral villages.
Exchange of views took place on a number of other humanitarian issues.
There was no discussion on the refugee problem at the completed round. Resumption of discussions on the issue of refugees will become possible after Georgia stops the attempts to artificially politicize this problem.
The next round of discussions is scheduled for April 2024.
