Russian Official: Okruashvili not in Favor of Peaceful Resolution
Use of force against the Russian peacekeepers stationed in the South Ossetian conflict zone will have “disastrous consequences for the entire region,” Modest Kolerov, chief of the Russian presidential department for interregional and cultural ties with foreign countries, said on February 14, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies reported.
Commenting on the statement by Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili that the South Ossetian conflict will be solved this year, Kolerov said that “it is strange when a Defense Minister appears as a spokesperson for peace initiatives.”
“Each Defense Minister has very special resources for resolving [conflicts] and any normal observer will assume that this Mr. [Irakli Okruashvili] does not bet on a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” Kolerov said.