South Ossetia Blames ‘Third Force’ for Shootouts

On August 18 South Ossetian de facto Defense Minister Anatoli Barankevich accused a so called ‘third force’ of provoking overnight shootouts in the conflict zone.

Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze met with his separatist counterpart in the village of Eredvi in the conflict zone on August 18 in order to discuss the sporadic fighting which has been taking place around midnight for the last several nights.

Georgian Defense Minister said that the South Ossetian side’s claims regarding the existence of so called ‘uncontrolled armed groups’ or a ‘third force’ in the conflict zone is “ridiculous.”

“We offer them [Ossetians] to jointly wipe-out this kind of forces if they really exist,” Giorgi Baramidze told reporters after his talks with Anatoli Barankevich.

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