NSC Chief of Staff Assesses Meeting with Tskhinvali

A meeting between the Georgian side, representatives of the de facto South Ossetia (Tskhinvali region) and Russian occupation forces in the village of Chorchana, located in Khashuri district, Shida Kartli, is over.

Kakhaber Kemoklidze, Chief of Staff of Georgia's new National Security Council (NSC), told reporters that the meeting was held constructively and that the sides agreed on further steps to de-escalate the situation.

“The meeting was held in a very constructive environment. This is a very important step forward. The parties agreed that concrete steps should be taken to de-escalate the situation. The decision was actually shared by all the representatives. A further technical meeting will be held next week, this time in the village of Ergneti. At this technical meeting, we will once again reiterate the positions we hold. Despite the different positions, the overall pathos and purpose of the meeting served to complete a de-escalation of the situation. This is a very big step forward in the right direction, the implementation of which will be launched from today,” Kemoklidze said.

The meeting was initiated by de-facto authorities of Tskhinvali (so-called South Ossetia), in response to the Georgian side’s decision not to remove the police blockade near the village of Chorchana, situated close to the occupation line (ABL).

Representatives of the de-facto regime warned the Georgian side to remove the Georgian blockade by 6 am today; however, the Georgian authorities refused, saying that the area has "always been a territory controlled by the central government of Georgia and they had full rights to arrange the blockade there".

"On the suggestion of the South Ossetian side, a technical meeting will be held on Friday in the district where the Georgian police erected an illegal blockade", said Murat Jioev, special representative of the de facto president of (the occupied) Tskhinvali region for the 'Settlement of Post-Conflict Issues'.

The South Ossetian side says that "In case of further escalations, counter actions will be used to protect South Ossetia's territorial integrity. Full responsibility for the possible consequences goes to the Georgian government and its Western partners."

Related Story: Meeting Underway Between Georgian, Russian Sides and de facto Tskhinvali

By Ana Dumbadze