PM Comments on South Ossetia

South Ossetian secessionist leader Eduard Kokoity is fully responsible for the recent escalation in tensions in the conflict zone, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli said on May 14.

He said ?we can not follow the path of violence? and called on the international community, including Russia, to take ?an active stance? in order to prevent a further escalation in tensions.

At least two people were wounded as a result of a shootout in the conflict zone late on May 12. Authorities in Tskhinvali are continuing a blockade of roads leading to Georgian villages. The South Ossetian side said it would unblock the roads only after Tbilisi had pulled out its forces and disbanded its ?puppet government? led by Dimitri Sanakoev.

Nogaideli said at a news conference that ?it is unacceptable to talk with us in the language of blackmail.?

He reiterated that Tbilisi would continue talks with the head of the provisional administration in South Ossetia, Dimitri Sanakoev.

?We will talk with anyone who is ready to have a dialogue with us and Dimitri Sanakoev is a person who wants to have a dialogue,? Nogaideli said.

?Sanakoev represents the interests of more residents of South Ossetia than Kokoity does,? he added.

But he also said that the Georgian side was ready to talk to the Tskhinvali-based authorities as well.

He said that Russian chief negotiator for South Ossetian issues Yuri Popov was due to visit Georgia to discuss the possibility of continuing negotiations in the framework of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)