Tskhinvali Accuses OSCE of Biased Assessment of Situation

Special Affairs Minister of breakaway South Ossetia Boris Chochiev, who also represents the South Ossetian side in the Joint Control Commission (JCC), accused the OSCE monitors of biased assessment of developments in the breakaway region.

The South Ossetian Minister sent a letter to Chief of the Joint Peacekeeping Troops stationed in the conflict zone Marat Kulakhmetov, requesting him to discuss and assess the recent report of the OSCE monitors.  

?During the JCC meeting in Moscow on March 16-17 the South Ossetian side made a statement over biased assessment of the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone by the OSCE officers in Georgia, who participate in joint monitoring along with the Joint Peacekeeping Troops,? the letter reads.

?Nevertheless, the OSCE observers still continue to misrepresent the results of monitoring in their reports,? the Press and Information Committee of breakaway South Ossetia quotes Chochiev as saying in the letter. 

Earlier in March the South Ossetian side demanded expulsion of Bulgarian diplomat Gancho Ganchev, who heads the OSCE office in the capital of unrecognized republic Tskhinvali, citing the assessments made by him as biased.

The OSCE branch office in Tskhinvali, which became operational in 1997, helps to gather information on the military situation in the conflict zone, as well as examines violations of the cease-fire agreement.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)