South Ossetia Accuses Tbilisi of Provocation Attempts

President of breakaway South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity convened a session of the law enforcement agencies? top officials on September 12 to discuss the current development in the conflict zone, which is marked ?by an attempt by the Georgian side to destabilize the situation,? Irina Gagloeva, a spokesperson for the South Ossetian government, told Interfax news agency.

In a statement issued on September 10 the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee said that the Georgian side ?plan provocations for the 15-year anniversary of South Ossetia?s independence,? which will be marked by the unrecognized republic on September 19-20.

According to the statement ?a squad of saboteurs? from the Georgian Interior Ministry is operating in the Georgian villages of the conflict zone, mainly in Tamarasheni and Kekhvi, in the north of the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali.

Meanwhile, Boris Chochiev, Special Affairs Minister of the unrecognized republic and the South Ossetian chief negotiator, sent a letter to the co-chairmen of the Joint Control Commission, involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia?s North Ossetian side, expressing concern over the brief abduction of ethnic Ossetian civilians by an ?armed Georgian gang? in the conflict zone on September 9. According to the Georgian side, the two civilians were released a few hours after the Georgian Interior Ministry became involved in the case.

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