MFA Prepares Conclusion on Peacekeepers’ Withdrawal
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said on August 11 that the Georgian Foreign Ministry will present a conclusion regarding the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflict zones this autumn.
He said that the Ministry is currently analyzing the documents that serve as the legal basis for the current peacekeeping operations in the conflict zones.
The Georgian Foreign Minister also said that the situation with peacekeepers in breakaway Abkhazia is much easier, as the peacekeepers are stationed there under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). “As for South Ossetia, the Sochi agreement from 24 June 1992 needs to be revised.”
The Georgian Parliament passed a resolution on July 18 instructing the government to launch relevant procedures in order to immediately suspend, as the document reads, “the so-called peacekeeping operations” in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
A similar resolution was passed by Parliament in February that specifically addresses the situation in South Ossetia and instructs the government to revise the Sochi agreement.
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze said earlier that Tbilisi plans to officially push for the revision of the Sochi agreement at the upcoming session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC), which is scheduled in Moscow for August 17-18.
As a result of the Sochi agreement, which is also known as the Dagomis agreement, a Joint Peacekeeping Force consisting of Georgian, Ossetian, and Russian battalions was set up.
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