Thursday, August 2, 2007, #146 (1413)

Russian negotiator to help arrange JCC session in Tbilisi

By Ana Kvrivishvili

On July 31, Russian chief negotiator on South Ossetia Yuri Popov said he'll work to support a Tbilisi session of the Joint Control Commission.

Popov, Russia's co-chair on the JCC, told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that he would be consulting with both Tbilisi and secessionist Tskhinvali representatives in the next week to pull them together for a JCC meeting in the Georgian capital.

"In a frame of bilateral negotiations, we will meet the Georgians in Tbilisi and the South Ossetian representatives in Tskinvali, to agree on a schedule and answer certain questions connected with the preparation of the meeting," Popov said.

The JCC meeting is intended to be a forum for hashing out cooperation on demilitarization and trust-building.

"We have to decide on the questions which will serve to decrease the stress level in the conflict zone," Popov said.

However, Russia's representative asserted that Moscow doesn't recognize Dmitry Sanakoyev, the Tbilisi-appointed head of the South Ossetia temporary administrative, as a legitimate negotiator for South Ossetia.

Political expert Ramaz Sakvarelidze says that Russia's position on Sanakoyev may be an intentional impasse in the session.

Sakvarelidze says that Russia wants to draw out the negotiation process as it waits to see what happens with Kosovo.

"Russia wants to base its position on Abkhazia and South Ossetia...according to the international community's decision on the Kosovo issue; after that, Russia will make up its mind whether or not to request the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia officially," Sakvarelidze told the Messenger.

State Minister for Conflict Resolution Davit Bakradze said he didn't expect any breakthroughs in the upcoming session, his first as a negotiator.

"None of the previous agreements reached in JCC sessions have been fulfilled, demilitarization of the region among them," Bakradze said.

The upcoming Tbilisi meeting-which, if it takes place, will be the first in four years for the Georgian capital-will be attended by Popov and Bakradze, plus co-chairs from North Ossetia and South Ossetia. Georgian efforts to include Sanakoyev as a separate side met with firm refusal from Russia and South Ossetia. The session will be held in the city's OSCE offices.

Tskhinvali played host on July 13-14 to the last JCC meeting, which was an informal session as the Georgian government refused to send a representative.



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