Russian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairman Discuss S.Ossetia

In a telephone conversation on February 21 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht discussed the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported.

The two Foreign Ministers expressed concern regarding the tensions in the region and called for “activation of joint efforts to find peaceful ways of normalization [the situation], first of all in frames of the Joint Control Commission,” according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In a statement issued on February 21 the EU’s Austrian presidency pointed out the “need to increase the effectiveness of the negotiating mechanisms” and says the effectiveness of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) has to be measured by the degree of implementation of the previous agreements, especially on demilitarization.”