Tskhinvali Cuts Links with Tbilisi, Demands Compensation

President of self-styled South Ossetia Eduard Kokoev said in Moscow on June 12, that Tskhinvali ?suspends all kind of relations? with Tbilisi.

He added that breakaway South Ossetia will keep contact with Georgia only within the frames of the Joint Control Commission, involving Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian sides.

He accused the Georgian authorities of deliberate destabilization of the situation in the breakaway region. Kokoev described Tbilisi?s humanitarian initiatives in South Ossetia, which includes distribution of agricultural fertilizers and medicines, as ?a destabilization attempt.?

?Under the pretext of these humanitarian initiatives, officials from Tbilisi are calling for the local population to topple the legally elected President of South Ossetia,? Eduard Kokoev said.  

The South Ossetian de facto President demanded the Georgian Parliament ?to recognize genocide towards the South Ossetian population in 1989-1991.?

?The Georgian side must also compensate the damage to South Ossetia worth of 34 billion [Russian] rubles at the exchange rate relevant for 1991,? Kokoev added.

The de facto South Ossetian President denied reports made by the Georgian officials regarding the delivery of extra weapons to South Ossetia from Russia.
 
?No weapons or Russian units have entered the territory of South Ossetia. It was humanitarian freight,? Kokoev said.

On June 11, Georgian State Minister Goga Khaindrava, who is in charge of conflict resolution issues, said that 160-170 trucks loaded with weapons, entered South Ossetia via Russia?s North Ossetian Republic.