The Georgian State Minister, Goga Khaindrava, who is charge of conflict resolution, and Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Vano Merabishvili visited the breakaway South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali on June 2 in order to hold talks with the self-styled Republic?s leadership.
Scheduled peace talks between the two sides, which included representatives from Russia and from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), were planned for June 1 in Tbilisi; however, the Ossetian side refused to travel to the Georgian capital.
The recent developments in the conflict zone are at the top of the agenda of the talks.
Goga Khaindrava told reporters that he will seek explanations from the South Ossetian self-styled authorities of the incident that occurred during Georgian First Lady, Sandra Roelofs’, visit to the breakaway region on June 1.
Georgia?s First Lady wanted to travel to the Georgian village of Tamarasheni to mark International Children?s Day. The road to the village lies in the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed South Ossetian authorities. After Sandra Roelofs’ motorcade was blocked, she had to arrive in the village in a helicopter. On her way back, the First Lady tried to return to Tbilisi by road, but she was again blocked and had to resort to helicopter.
Vano Merabishvili, Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council, told reporters that the Georgian side will push the issue of free movement throughout the region during the talks.
He also said that the Georgian the agenda will include the proposal by President Saakashvili to distribute pensions for the population living in the breakaway region.