Russian Defense Minister Comments on Peacekeepers

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov said on February 3 that the position of South Ossetian and Abkhaz sides should also be heard while deciding whether to pull out Russian peacekeepers from those conflict zones or not.

“In Abkhazia the peacekeeping forces are stationed under the mandate of the Commonwealth of the Independent States [CIS]. We would better ask the opinion of other parties of the conflict, I mean the leaderships of the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” Ivanov said.
 
According to the Georgian Parliament’s resolution adopted on October 11, 2005, the government should report to the Parliament by February 10, 2006 about the peace process in the South Ossetian conflict zone and by July 1 – in Abkhazia. If the Parliament decides that no progress has been made, the lawmakers will demand that the peacekeepers begin withdrawing, starting from February 15, 2006 from South Ossetia and 15 July – from Abkhazia.