Tskhinvali Sets Conditions for Informal JCC Session

The South Ossetian side said on February 14 that it will participate in an informal meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) in Istanbul if at the meeting the sides negotiate a date, venue and agenda of the next plenary session of the JCC.

The recent plenary session of the quadripartite JCC, which involves negotiators from the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia?s North Ossetian sides, was held in Vladikavkaz, Russia?s North Ossetia, last October. But the meeting failed to yield any results.

Since then the Georgian side has refrained from participating in the plenary sessions of the JCC, instead offering to take part in an informal ?information session? of the commission. This is a clear attempt to lower the profile of the commission that Tbilisi describes as ?unfair and outdated.?

?A necessary result of the Istanbul meeting should be a clear decision to continue joint work in the frames of the JCC format, and in particular to approve the agenda, date and venue of a next plenary session of the JCC,? Boris Chochiev, chief South Ossetian negotiator, said in comments posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee?s web-site.

He also said that the South Ossetian side is now expecting written confirmation from Tbilisi that the Georgian side is ready to hold a meeting in Istanbul based on the above conditions.

Chochiev also said that the date of the Istanbul meeting can be decided only after Tbilisi agrees to Tskhinvali?s conditions.

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