Tskhinvali Blames Tbilisi for Thwarting JCC Talks

South Ossetian chief negotiator Boris Chochiev said that the Georgian side deliberately included a controversial army commander in its delegation to thwart a session of the Joint Control Commission, which was scheduled for September 15-16 in Tskhinvali.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze refused to travel to Tskhinvali for talks after the South Ossetian side denied entry to Paata Bedianashvili, commander of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion.

The South Ossetian side claims that Bedianashvili was ?actively engaged in the armed conformation? in the summer, 2004. The South Ossetia side also accuses the Georgian commander of masterminding the shelling of Tskhinvali on September 20, 2005.

?We were expecting this kind of outcome, because Merab Antadze is tasked [by the Georgian leadership] to destroy the JCC format [involving negotiators from the Georgian, S.Ossetia, Russian and Russia?s North Ossetian sides]. Tbilisi knew very well that sending Bedianashvili is unacceptable for the South Ossetia side,? Boris Chochiev was quoted by the South Ossetian Press and Information Committe.

The sides are now reportedly negotiating the possibility of holding the JCC session in Russia?s North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz in late September.

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