Tbilisi Sends Mixed Signals over JCC

Georgia said it was ready to host a session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) over South Ossetia in Tbilisi, but it also gave a clear sign that Tbilisi may boycott the session.

Davit Bakradze, the state minister for conflict resolution issues, said at a news conference on September 5, that the JCC plenary session would apparently be held at the end of September in Tbilisi.

The Georgian side is proposing to hold the session in the OSCE mission headquarters. Earlier in August the South Ossetian authorities rejected this proposal, citing security concerns and instead suggested holding the session in the Russian embassy compound.

Bakradze, however, pointed out that before the JCC session could convene, Russia had ?to answer several questions from the Georgian side?, including some concerning the August 6 missile incident.

He also warned that a recent official statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, wherein South Ossetian secessionist leader, Eduard Kokoity, was described as ?the president of the South Ossetian Republic? may become an obstacle in holding the JCC session.

?This kind of statement hinders the convening of the JCC and it also questions Russia?s role as a mediator,? Bakradze said.

The comments come in the context of Tbilisi’s on-going attempts to undermine, what it calls, ?an outdated and unfair? Russian-led negotiating body. The Joint Control Commission involves negotiators from the Georgian, Russian, Russia?s North Ossetian and South Ossetian sides.

The last plenary session of the JCC was held in Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia last October. Since then Tbilisi has been ignoring the body under various pretexts. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that an agreement had been reached with visiting State Minister Bakradze in Moscow on August 30 to hold a session in Tbilisi.

Despite this agreement, however, most observers think it unlikely that the plenary session will actually be held in Tbilisi at the end of September.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)