Tskhinvali Protests Operation of Reservists’ Camp in Conflict Zone

Special Affairs Minister of breakaway South Ossetia Boris Chochiev expressed protest regarding the operation of a training camp for the reserve forces in the village of Dzevera, which is located in the Gori district in central Georgia, just 10 km away from the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.

According to Chochiev, the observers from the OSCE and Joint Peacekeeping Troops are denied entry into Dzevera to monitor the situation there.

“This contradicts the early reached agreements and hampers restoration of trust between the conflicting sides,” the Press and Information Committee of breakaway South Ossetia quotes Chochiev as saying on April 6.

The de facto Special Affairs Minister expressed gratitude to Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia Roy Reeve, who sent a letter to Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Gela Bezhuashvili and Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili regarding this problem, according to the Press and Information Committee.  

The reserve forces camp in Dzevera was set up last November. Only joint – Georgian, Ossetian and Russian – peacekeeping troops are authorized to be deployed in the conflict zone, according to a 1992 peace agreement. The agreement also defines the conflict zone as the territory that resides within a 15-kilometer radius from the center of the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali.

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