Foreign Minster Speaks of S.Ossetia ‘Breakthrough’

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told RFE/RL in Brussels on May 16 that Tbilisi had made “a breakthrough” after the alternative South Ossetian leader Dimitri Sanakoev’s emergence on the scene.
 
“It is the first time the former separatists [Sanakoev held the position of defense minister in the secessionist government], who fought back in 1992-1993 on [the other] side of the barricades, said ‘enough is enough.’ [Sanakoev has] collected significant support from the local population, both Georgian and Ossetian,” Bezhuashvili said.

The Georgian foreign minister, who visited Brussels on May 14-16, said that Sanakoev represented the Ossetian population who had “a vision”.

“If you compare Dmitri Sanakoev [to de facto South Ossetia President Eduard] Kokoity — who is surrounded by Russian nationalists, [and has] nothing to do with Ossetia or [the] Ossetian ethnos or Ossetian culture at all — you will see more legitimacy in him than Kokoity,” Bezhuashvili said.

He also added that although Tbilisi was ready to engage in talks with Kokoity as well, the latter had refused all invitations.

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