Ambassador of Great Britain sees the negotiation process only in the framework of JCC

On 6 August 2008 the President of the Republic of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity met with the Ambassador of Great Britain Denis Keef.

The Ambassador of Greta Britain was accompanied by the Military attaché of the Embassy of Great Britain to Georgia Nick Ridaut, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia Ryan Grist, Head of the Tskhinval Field Office Grzegorz Mikhalsky.

South Ossetian side was represented at the meeting by: Deputy Head of the Chairman of the Government, the Minister for Special Affairs of the RSO, JCC Co-chair form the South Ossetian side Boris Chochiev, and Foreign Affairs Minister Murat Djioev.

During the meeting Denis Keef presented his condolences to the families of the dead and injured during the shelling on the night of 1-2 August 2008. He expressed hope for the rapid decrease of tension in the conflict zone and start of the dialogue between the sides.

The President of South Ossetia expressed his concern over the “aggressive, irresponsible and impertinent actions of the Georgian leadership and unceasing provocations aimed at the escalation of the situation”.

He underscored that South Ossetia has evidences that the Georgian side is preparing for the full-scaled hostilities on the territory of the Republic of South Ossetia by September 2008 The last action of the Georgian side indicates that Georgia started the implementation of the given plan”.

In the course of the meeting Eduard Kokoity expressed bewilderment and indignation over the fact that South Ossetian side repeatedly invited the ambassadors of the Western countries accredited in Georgia including the Ambassador of Great Britain so that to inform everybody about the implication of the Georgian Special Forces in the terracts committed on the territory of the RSO. The President informed that almost all perpetrators of the terracts are detained and are giving evidences mentioning the top members of the State Security Ministry of Georgia who were recruiting them and paid the services.

However according to the President the Ambassadors do not only respond the arguments of the South Ossetian side but “appear in the Gregorian villages from where the territory of South Ossetia was fired upon.

As for the events of August 1-2 Eduard Kokoity noted that “firing from the Georgian side was recoded during the monitoring by the Mission Officers. The actions of South Ossetia are responsive. “We are nor going to withdraw from our positions”, the President of the RSO underlined.

During the meeting the attention of the Ambassador of Great Britain was drawn to the fact that Georgia is trying to break the four-sided internationally recognized format of JCC that includes Russia, Georgia, South Ossetia and North Ossetia-Alania.

The last statement of the official Tbilisi as well as the Special representative of the President of Georgia on the resolution of conflicts Teimuraz Jakobashvili that Georgia broke the format of JCC and South Ossetia allegedly is ready for direct negotiations does not contribute to the confidence building and lead the negotiation process to the deadlock.

The Ambassador of Great Britain Denis Keef noted that he supports the negotiation process in the internationally recognized format of JCC. And according to him this opinion is adhered by the European Union.