Moscow, Tskhinvali Agree on Rotation of Georgian Peacekeepers

Negotiators from the Russian, South Ossetian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides gathered in Moscow for a session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) on February 20, despite the Georgian side’s refusal to participate in this session.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that at this session of the JCC, which was held without the presence of negotiators from Georgia, the co-chairmen of the JCC from Russia, South Ossetia and North Ossetia decided to give consent to the “unscheduled rotation” of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion in the conflict zone. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that this consent was an expression of good will.

“The Georgian side, in violation of existing provisions, has carried out an unscheduled rotation of its peacekeeping battalion in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. Because of this fact, the movement of the Georgian servicemen in the conflict zone was blocked by the population of South Ossetia in the Tskhinvali region. In turn, the Georgian side closed down a number of routs on the Trans-Caucasus Highway. Against the background of the existing situation, this time the co-chairmen of the Joint Control Commission [JCC] from Russia, North Ossetia and South Ossetia, who gathered in Moscow, deemed it possible, as an expression of a good will, to give the go-ahead for this unscheduled rotation of the Georgian Peacekeeping battalion,” an information note issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday reads.

The Georgian side refused to participate in the JCC session in Moscow after Russia turned down a proposal to hold talks in Vienna on February 20-21, as was initially scheduled. Russia cited the “necessity of being close to the conflict zone” as the reason for its refusal to hold a session of the JCC session in Vienna. In response, the Georgian side offered on February 20 to hold a JCC session either in Tbilisi or in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali.