Parties Reach ‘Intermediate Deal’ Over South Ossetia

The quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian sides, signed a protocol on July 15 in a bid to defuse tensions in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia, after the two-day talks in the Russian capital of Moscow.

Georgian State Minister Goga Khaindrava in charge of conflict resolution issues, who represented the Georgian side at the JCC, described the protocol as “an intermediate agreement,” that will pave the way for further progress, thus hinting that much is still to be done to finally solve the conflict.

Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valeri Loshchinin, who was also participating in talks, voiced the provisions of the final protocol, which ignores Georgian sides main proposals made during the Moscow talks.

“The sides agreed to stop escalation of tensions in the conflict zone. The sides say no to the use of force and to economic or other means of pressure. This is a very important provision of the agreement,” Valeri Loshchinin told reporters on July 15.

He also said that the sides also pledged to follow commitments undertaken in a June 2 protocol signed in Tskhinvali within the frames of the JCC.

According to this protocol, Georgia must pull out its extra troops from the conflict zone and dismantle additional checkpoints set up in the conflict zone in late May and early June.

The Georgian side agreed over fulfillment of the June 2 protocol only with the added stipulation that the article 7 of the agreement will be further discussed, according to Interfax news agency. The article 7 of June 2 protocol envisages deployment of the Russian helicopters for the joint peacekeeping forces stationed in the conflict zone.

The July 15 protocol says nothing about pulling out armed groups from the Java district of the breakaway South Ossetia. During the talks, the Georgian side was insisting on the withdrawal of “illegal armed groups of mercenaries and volunteers” from the Java and Tskhinvali, but its efforts were in vain.

The Georgian representatives also pushed the issue of setting up a joint Russian-Georgian checkpoint at the Roki Pass in South Ossetia, which links the breakaway region with its neighboring Russia’s North Ossetian Republic, but they were unsucessful with this as well. Georgia claims that smuggled goods and weapons are delivered to the breakaway region via the tunnel at the Roki Pass.
 
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava told reporters after the talks that the signing of the agreement was a positive step. He said it is “an intermediate agreement,” which will prevent worsening of the situation in the conflict zone.

Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valeri Loshchinin also said that the parties pledged not to hinder free movement of humanitarian aid in the conflict zone.

Valeri Loshchinin also said that that the sides will appoint representatives to work on a permanent basis over the defusing of tensions who “will be based in Tskhinvali [capital of breakaway South Ossetia],” he noted.

The parties admitted that the “talks were hard.” Reportedly, the final protocol was signed only after bilateral talks occurred between Boris Chochiev, who represents the breakaway South Ossetia at the JCC,  and Goga Khaindrava.

Boris Chochiev told reporters after the talks that the next meeting of the JCC “will be held in Tbilisi in the very near future.”

Meanwhile, Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Gela Bezhuashvili, who is visiting Moscow, will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov on July 16 to discuss South Ossetia.