On April 4-5, 2023, a regular round of the GID on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia, held on the bases of the agreements adopted on August 12, 2008 and September 8, 2008, took place in Geneva. Delegations from the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation and the United States, as well as representatives of the EU, the UN and the OSCE participated in work of the Discussions. Konstantin Kochiev, State Adviser to the President of the Republic of South Ossetia, headed the South Ossetiandelegation.
The work was conducted in two working groups – on security and humanitarian issues.
The first working group discussed regional security issues.
The participants emphasized that since the GID remains the only platform for discussion of emerging issues and threats requiring attention, then long breaks in the Geneva process negatively affect the stability and security situation in the region.
The main attention of the participants was drawn to necessity ofdevelopment of a legally binding document on non-use of force or threat of force between Georgia and the Republic of South Ossetia as well as between Georgia and the Republic of Abkhazia. Such a document would become a basis for maintaining stability and strengthening the existing security architecture in the region. The relevance of the document is increasing at the background of the March 2023 events in Georgia and calls to unleash a new armed aggression against South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
While discussing the issues of stability and security in the area of the South Ossetian-Georgian state border, the participants of the meeting marked the absence of serious incidents. At the same time, the extremely negative impact of the fortified police post, illegally established by the Georgian side in the immediate vicinity of the South Ossetian village of Uista, on the situationwas emphasized. The South Ossetian and Russian delegations drew attention of other participants to the need for delimitation and subsequent demarcation of the border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia. This could be a serious factor ofstrengthening security and stability in the region and could meet the interests of the population living on both sides of the South Ossetian-Georgian state border.
During the discussion, the effectiveness and expediency of continuing the work of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in the area of the South Ossetian-Georgian border and the hotline operating in this format were noted.
A detailed conversation on humanitarian issues took place, in which priority attention was paid to the fate of the citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia abducted by Georgian law enforcement agencies and missing in the territory of Georgia. In addition, attention was once again drawn to the continuing violation by Georgia of the rights of the Tyrsygom Ossetians, who have been unable to gain access to their ancestral villages over the past years.
The South Ossetian and Abkhaz participants once again raised the issue of the discriminatory character of visa policy led by certain states in relation to residents of South Ossetia.
The parties exchanged opinion on a range of other humanitarian problems.
Discussion on the problem of refugees was not held at the completed round. The resumption of discussions on the topic of refugees will be possible if Georgia stops the ongoing artificial politicization of this problem.
The next round of the Geneva Discussions is scheduled for July 2023.
Geneva, 6 April 2023