Lavrov: JCC Session Thwarted

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov condemned the Georgian side”s decision to bar Russian diplomats” entry into the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on July 14 and said that Tbilisi”s actions have thwarted a session of the quadripartite negotiating body Joint Control Commission, which was scheduled for July 17 in Tbilisi.

“I think that there are representatives of the “party of war” in Georgia, who are no longer controlled by the Georgian President. We demand observation of agreements on status of Russian diplomats and peacekeepers,” Lavrov said at a news conference on July 16.

“These representatives of “party of war” have already achieved thwarting of JCC session which was scheduled for tomorrow,” he added.

The Russian Foreign Minister also said that the from now on Moscow”s approach will be to organize JCC sessions “in a city where security will be guaranteed and elementary respect towards the negotiators will be shown.”

The Russian officials said that the July 14 incident was followed by another one on July 15 when a car with Russian chief negotiator for the South Ossetian issues Yuri Popov and deputy commander of the Russian land forces Valery Evnevich in charge of peacekeeping operations in it, was again stopped by the Georgian law enforcers on a road between Gori and Tskhinvali.

Valery Evnevich told the Russian ORT television that Georgian law enforcers acted very rudely and opened several shots in the air.

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