Georgia Insists on Launching Talks over South Ossetia Status

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who met with the members of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), welcomed the ceasefire agreement reached with the South Ossetian side on August 17; however Zhvania added that no significant breakthrough is anticipated without first launching talks over the political status of the breakaway region.

?Establishment of long-lasting stability and peace in the region will be impossible without resolving the problem of South Ossetia?s status. We reiterated our readiness to launch talks over this status,? Zurab Zhvania said at a news briefing after the talks with the JCC members.

During the talks in Tbilisi on August 17 the conflicting sides agreed  over a ceasefire, the withdrawal of extra troops from the conflict zone and securing the free movement of people in the region.

Zurab Zhvania also said that the South Ossetian side expressed a readiness to release three Georgian soldiers who have been detained by South Ossetian militias since early July.

Zhvania said that the Georgian side offered the South Ossetian and Russian sides to carry out joint operations against armed groups which, according to the South Ossetian side, are out of Tskhinvali?s control.

?The South Ossetian side claims that there is a certain third force in the region, [which are] armed groups which do not obey Tskhinvali?s orders. Therefore we are proposing to carry out a joint operation to wipe-out these groups, if there are any,? Zhvania added.