- How do you assess the activities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs prior to your appointment? Which areas in the department you wish to strengthen and what measures you are going to do about it?
-The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has done a great job over the years. I think that all necessary actions have been carried out at each stage by the Foreign Ministry.
July 6, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia D.Sanakoev was in the Republic of Abkhazia on a working visit during which he met Foreign Minister V.Chirikba.
On July 9, 2012 at the annual meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Monaco the Resolution "On the situation in Georgia" proposed by the Polish deputy Michal Scherba was supported. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are referred to as the "occupied territories" in the resolution.
On July 3, 2012 the UN General Assembly approved a draft resolution on "Situation of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and Tskhinvali district / South Ossetia, Georgia" submitted by Georgia for balloting.
On June 29, 2012 the Interior Ministry of Georgia relocated a police station a few hundred meters closer to the state border of South Ossetia in the village Zardiantkari (Georgia), which is located opposite the South Ossetian village of Khelchua. This caused great tension among the people of Ossetian nationality living in these villages.
On June 25, 2012 a meeting of the of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia D.G. Sanakoyev with State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation G.B. Karasin was held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
In the course of the conversation the sides discussed topical issues of further expansion of the cooperation in the main fields of foreign policy, economic and cultural cooperation; and indicated the significance of the Geneva discussions on issues of security and stability in the Transcaucasia.
Last Thursday, June 21, 2012 XVII International Economic Forum started in St. Petersburg; it will last for three days. The event is attended by several thousand people, including a delegation from the Republic of South Ossetia consisting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs D.G. Sanakoyev, Acting Minister of Economic Development A.V. Khabalova and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation D. N. Medoyev.
Of wrongfulness of using “occupation” and “occupied territories” terms in respect of South Ossetia and Abkhazia
Representatives of the Republic of Abkhazia and Republic of South Ossetia notes eventuated within the frameworks of 20th round of Geneva discussions on the questions of security and stability in Northern Caucasus discussion of illegality of using in respect of South Ossetia and Abkhazia “occupation” and “occupied territories” terms from the point of view of norms and principles of international law as well.
It is known that on May 20-21, 2012 the next summit of the North Atlantic Alliance will take place in Chicago. Georgia has great expectations for the forthcoming summit. The Georgian leadership hopes that the Alliance countries will designate Georgia as one of the ‘advanced countries for membership in NATO’ at the NATO Summit in Chicago. Georgia`s representatives surely love to sew on all sorts of attractive labels on their country, and it does not upset anyone in South Ossetia.
As the events reveal, the Statement of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, on the abolition of entry visas to Georgia for the citizens of the Russian Federation made in his annual address to Parliament on February 27, 2012 is another propaganda ploy aimed not only at increasing the flow of Russian citizens in Georgia, but rather at the suggestion of an international myth of the "constructiveness" and "peacefulness" of foreign policy actions of the author of this idea.
April 23, the Report on 2012 Presidential elections in Russia held on March 4 made by the observers of the Council of Europe was heard at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This document, being initially biased, disapproves the opening of polling stations in the territories of the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia which allegedly are ‘occupied territories of Georgia’.
On the 16th of April 2012 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Republic of South Ossetia received the Head of Tskhinval office of ICRC Pierre Reichel.
Mr. Pierre Reichel which ends his activity as the head of Head of Tskhinval office of ICRC represented to the Minister his successor Ms. Leanna Hutchins.
During the visit there were discussed issues of ICRC activity on territory of Republic of South Ossetia.
