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Monday,
August 6,
2007, #148 (1415)
Kokoity, the de facto president of South Ossetia, said on August 3 that the Georgian government did not offer the security guarantees his delegation needed to come to the capital, where they were scheduled to meet with the other JCC co-chairs in OSCE offices. "I approve of participation in the JCC, and want to continue its work, but not in Georgia. It can be in Tskhinvali, in Moscow, in Vladikavkaz or in any other city, but not Tbilisi," Kokoity told journalists in the secessionist capital of Tskhinvali. Speaking to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti the same day, Yuri Popov, Russia's JCC co-chair and chief negotiator on South Ossetia, said that he hadn't received official notification from Tskhinvali authorities. "This information is being verified. Russia still thinks that the session is important," Popov said. The last JCC meeting was held in Tskhinvali in mid-July. The Georgian side, then led by former state minister for conflict resolution Merab Antadze, did not attend. According to Antadze's predecessor, Goga Khaindrava, the last JCC session attended by all four sides was in Moscow, during his tenure as state minister. "It's been over a year since all four members of the JCC have sat down together at the round table," Khaindrava told the Messenger. "This proves that this quadripartite format is useless. Georgia, with its new conflict resolution state minister [Davit Bakradze], now has a chance to move these negotiations into the European space with more involvement from the international community." Khaindrava dismissed Kokoity's talks of security threats as a tired excuse. Separatist leadership, meanwhile, accused Tbilisi of plotting terrorist attacks on Tskhinvali. At an August 3 press conference, Rustavi 2 reported, head of South Ossetia's Committee for State Security (KGB) Boris Atoyev said that secessionist authorities had thwarted a bomb plot in the breakaway capital. Atoyev claimed that an undercover South Ossetian agent had infiltrated Georgian security services and was personally involved in planting two mines in Tskhinvali. The purported undercover agent, who was with Atoyev at the press conference, added that he was tasked with organizing the prison break of a former separatist official jailed on charges of plotting Kokoity's assassination. Atoyev warned the citizens of Tskhinvali to expect more attacks from Tbilisi. There were reports the same day from the de facto authorities of an explosion in Tskhinvali, which caused no injuries but damaged a gas station. Separatist officials blamed a Georgian-backed group. Georgian officials denied the allegations. State Minister for Conflict Resolution Davit Bakradze, speaking at an August 3 press conference, said that Tskhinvali was trying to aggravate the situation. "The statements are aimed at breaking up the planned JCC session in Tbilisi; or, at least, the deterioration of the situation," Bakradze said. Bakradze said there was no evidence of any blast, citing a report from the joint peacekeeping force and OSCE observers. "Even the so-called representatives of [the South Ossetian] security committee couldn't give enough information to the [observers] about the explosives," he said. The Tbilisi-backed
head of the South Ossetian temporary administrative unit, Dmitry Sanakoyev,
accused separatist authorities of scaremongering. A military invasion
from Georgia is not a possibility, he said, so Tskhinvali is trying
new ways of keeping their people frightened. |
Tskhinvali won't
go to Tbilisi for JCC session, talks of security threats
