March 14 saw a meeting of Murat Dzhioev, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, and members of South Ossetian delegation at the GID, with Alexey Dvinyanin and Marat Kulakhmetov, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and members of Russian delegation at the Discussions.
The main attention at the meeting was paid to the agenda of the coming round of the GID scheduled for late March 2017. In this regard representatives of South Ossetia and Russia once again confirmed that it is work on agreements and statements on non-use of force for maintaining security in the region and, firstly, for guaranteeing non-renewal of military activities of Georgia against South Ossetia, the priority objective. In this context once again were mentioned the negative consequences of NATO harmonization with Georgia in general and presence of NATO armed forces as well as heavy armory on territory of Georgia in close vicinity to the border of the Republic of South Ossetia in particular. The parties stated the utmost necessity of delimitation and demarcation process of the border line between the two states, that would become a basis for rebuilding trust in border zones, for executing freedom of movement and establishment of normal cooperation including for the benefit of local residents who live on both sides of the frontier.
During a discussion on humanitarian issues it was noted that the on-going destructive and disinformation activities of Georgian representatives in the UN and its agencies, including the UN Human Rights Council, as well as in other international organizations, fraught with suspension of discussion on problems that are important for all nations in Transcaucasia. The importance of further work on clarifying the destiny of not accounted for South Ossetian citizens was noted.
At the end of the meeting the participants reiterated commitment to further close cooperation and coordination of steps made at the international arena for joint benefit of the Republic of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation.
Tskhinval, March 14, 2017