Russian Ambassador Demands Return of Confiscated Arms

Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vladimir Chkhikvishvili said on July 7 that Moscow demands that the Georgian side returns the ammunition confiscated on July 7 in breakaway South Ossetia.

?This was a provocation and the arms should be returned,? Ambassador Vladimir Chkhikvishvili told reporters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who also condemned the seizure of the arms, said at a news briefing in Moscow on July 7 that the movement of weapons in South Ossetia was agreed upon at a session of the Joint Control Commission on June 2.

However, Georgian State Minister in charge of conflict resolution, who represented Georgia at the JCC, says that all arms movement within the conflict zone must be pre-approved by Tbilisi, and since this did not occur, the confiscated arms were “unauthorized.”