U.S. Embassy Denies S.Ossetian Officials’ Allegations

The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi said it supports peaceful resolution of conflicts in Georgia and denied the breakaway South Ossetian officials’ allegations that U.S. instructors were involved in the June 9 police operation in the conflict zone.

The breakaway South Ossetian Press and Information Committee posted on its web-site on June 17 a statement of the unrecognized republic’s Interior Minister Mikhail Mindzaev who said that “American instructors” were involved in the Georgian police operation in the village of Avnevi on June 9 when ethnic Ossetian was arrested for alleged trafficking of counterfeit currency.

“The statement issued on June 17, 2006 by the South Ossetia Press and Information Committee, alleging that the U.S. Ambassador attends Georgian National Security Council meetings and that U.S. instructors were involved in an incident in South Ossetia on June 9, 2006, is wrong,” the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi said.

“The U.S. does not provide instructors or trainers of any kind to exacerbate tension in the conflict zones of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The U.S. supports peaceful resolution to the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The U.S. supports the territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.”

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