OSCE Chairman Condemns Detention of Russian Officials

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, has condemned the incident where Russian officials were detained by the Georgian Military Police and expressed regret at the postponement of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) meeting scheduled for July 17 in Tbilisi, the OSCE press office reported on Monday.

“It is disappointing that the opportunity to resume constructive dialogue has not been taken, especially at this time of increased tension. It is imperative that all parties take the earliest possible opportunity to address jointly the pressing issues at hand,” Karel De Gucht said.

He also said that he was concerned at the July 14 and July 15 incidents when Russian chief negotiator on South Ossetia Yuri Popov, deputy commander of the Russian land forces Valery Yevnevich and an employee of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi were briefly detained and searched by the Georgian Military Police near the town of Gori.

“Stopping diplomatic delegates in a diplomatic vehicle in this way breaches internationally recognised diplomatic practice. I hope that such extraordinary and unhelpful incidents will not be repeated,” the OSCE Chairman-in-Office said.

After these incidents Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that the JCC session planned for July 17-18 in Tbilisi was thwarted.

Russian chief negotiator for the South Ossetian issues Yuri Popov said that a session of the quadripartite negotiating body Joint Control Commission (JCC) will probably be held in Moscow in late July, or in early August, Interfax news agency reported. 

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