Foreign Minister: Peacekeepers Needed to Implement Tbilisi-Proposed Demilitarization Plan
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said, while addressing parliamentarians on February 13, that Tbilisi will propose a detailed plan for demilitarizing the South Ossetian conflict zone at a session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) in Vienna on February 20-21.
He said that if the JCC approves this plan, which includes concrete stages and timeframes for this demilitarization process, the presence of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) in the conflict zone will be essential to implement this plan for demilitarization.
He also said that Georgia’s western partners are calling for caution while deciding whether to demand a withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers or not.
“We fully understand that we should be careful, as there are numerous risks. But I tried to assure our foreign partners that these risks are under the control [of the Georgian authorities],” Foreign Minister Bezhuashvili said.
He said that even if the Parliament pass a resolution on February 15 demanding a withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers, “it will take stages and time to implement” this decision.
