Participants in the Geneva discussions on Transcaucasia - South Ossetia, Russia and Abkhazia - are working on the issue of transferring the negotiating platform with several neutral countries, including Russia's immediate neighbors. This was reported by TASS with reference to State Advisor to President of South Ossetia, head of the South Ossetian delegation at the Geneva discussions, Konstantin Kochiev.
He has emphasized that the South Ossetian party will continue to defend the legitimate interests of its country on any platform.
Earlier, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Russia was considering the issue of transferring the Geneva discussions on Transcaucasia to another country from Switzerland.
“It is clear that Switzerland is experiencing strong pressure from its senior partners, which is why the neutrality that previously characterized the Swiss policy is now less and less. Therefore, at the meetings in Geneva, we, like the delegations of Russia and Abkhazia, have repeatedly raised the issue of transferring meeting places to another country. We also put forward a proposal to change the location at the next round of the Geneva discussions held at the beginning of the month <...> We will continue to defend the legitimate interests of our country at any venue, ,” Kochiev said.
He has added that the question of the meeting venue of the International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia has been raised for a long time for several years.
"The problem worsened due to the "special" attitude towards representatives of our countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, when we were required to undergo almost daily tests for the disease due to Switzerland's refusal to certify the Russian Sputnik vaccine. Subsequently, logistical difficulties were added to this: with the closure of flights between Russia and Switzerland, getting to Geneva is quite a non-trivial task; one has to get through the third countries. Problems with visa processing were subsequently added to this," Kochiev has concluded.
International discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia have been taking place in Geneva since 2008 with the participation of Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the USA and South Ossetia through the mediation of the UN, EU and OSCE special representatives. The work is traditionally carried out in two working groups - on security and on humanitarian issues.
