Sanakoev: All-Ossetian Assembly No Threat

Vladimir Sanakoev, the leader of Kokoity Fandarast, has called on the Georgian authorities to show restraint in the face of the ongoing All-Ossetian Assembly in Tskhinvali.

His comments come at the start of a two-day event which brings together over 500 ethnic Ossetians in the breakaway South Ossetian capital from at least 11 countries.

Vladimir Sanakoev, an outspoken critic of the breakaway South Ossetian authorities, said he actually took a rather ?positive? view of the assembly.

?I think that the Georgian authorities should respond calmly,? he told Rustavi 2 TV. ?There is nothing wrong in people gathering to discuss on-going problems and trying to define the future of South Ossetia.?

He also said he hoped the forum would give the participants a chance to see that ?the plans and statements of Eduard Kokoity [the South Ossetian secessionist leader] are absolutely unreal.?

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, said on September 18 that the Assembly in Tskhinvali was ?a theatrical show.?

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