State Minister Speaks of Tbilisi’s Refusal to Participate in JCC

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said that he has no plans to participate in the session of the Joint Control Commission, which, according to the Russian and South Ossetian sides, was scheduled for December 8 in Tskhinvali. Khaindrava said that the announcement made by the Russian Foreign Ministry on December 7 about the planned JCC session was “a surprise” to him, as he was not informed in advance.

On Thursday, the South Ossetian side proposed to hold a JCC session on December 9, instead of December 8.

But Khaindrava also said that he will not participate in the JCC session until the situation surrounding four Georgians, who were abducted in the conflict zone in early June, is resolved. News broke last week that all four Georgians have been killed and that a ransom of 100,000 USD is being demanded for hand over of the corpses to the relatives of the four men.

Khaindrava said that he will meet with Russian chief negotiator for the South Ossetian conflict Valery Kenyaikin, who arrived in Tbilisi on December 8 to participate in the JCC session.

“I will meet with Kenyaikin to discuss the situation in the conflict zone, we have a number of very serous issues to discuss,” Khaindrava said.

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