Tbilisi Refrains from Participating in Tskhinvali JCC Session
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said on May 31 that the Georgian side has decided not to participate in an emergency session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) on June 2 in Tskhinvali, an initiative proposed by the Russian and South Ossetian sides following the May 27 incident in the conflict zone.
“My colleagues from the JCC [negotiators from the Russian, South Ossetian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides] have notified me that they are intending to hold an emergency session of the JCC in Tskhinvali [the breakaway South Ossetian capital], but this kind of thing should not be done so spontaneously,” Khaindrava told the Interfax news agency.
He also noted that the Georgian side “is insisting on holding the JCC session in Tbilisi.”
“And this is quite a legal demand,” he added.
Last time the JCC, which is a major negotiating body for resolution of the South Ossetian conflict, gathered in Tskhinvali on May 11-12.
Meanwhile, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity warned that the Georgian side is masterminding a “military operation” and “aggression” against South Ossetia in two or three months.