Georgian Interior Minister Ready to Meet S.Ossetian Police Chief

Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said on May 14 that he is ready to meet Interior Minister of breakaway South Ossetia Mikhail Mindzaev.

The Georgian and South Ossetian sides agreed to hold a meeting between Interior Ministers before June 10, preceeding talks in frames of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) in Tskhinvali scheduled for May 11-12.

“I am ready to meet anyone if it [meeting] fosters peace and stability in the region,” Vano Merabishvili said.

He was speaking with reporters after opening a new base for the Interior Ministry’s 300-strong special purpose unit in Karaleti, Shida Kartli region, near the South Ossetian conflict zone.

He also said that arrest of some South Ossetian policemen two days ago by the Georgian police proved once again that South Ossetian officials are also involved in criminal activities. The Georgian police said that the South Ossetian policemen who were driving a car which was stolen in Tbilisi.