Russian, Georgian Diplomats to Discuss South Ossetia

Russian chief negotiator over the South Ossetian conflict issues Yuri Popov said on September 7 that he plans to hold a bilateral meeting with Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze before a session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC).

The South Ossetian side proposed that a JCC session be held by mid-September in the breakaway region?s capital Tskhinvali.

Speaking at a news conference in Moscow Popov said that that the September 3 helicopter incident, when a Georgian army helicopter reportedly carrying Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili was fired on over the South Ossetian conflict zone, will be discussed at the JCC session.

?We have agreed to hold bilateral, informal consultations with Merab Antadze. I am sure that the issue [the helicopter incident] will be discussed both during the JCC session and during my talks with Antadze,? Interfax news agency quoted Popov as saying.

The Russian side has accused Tbilisi of provoking the helicopter incident, saying that flights over the conflict zone are banned by a 2002 agreement reached in the frames of the JCC.

But officials in Tbilisi disagree, saying that the Georgian side has a right to conduct flights in its own airspace, including over South Ossetia.

Yuri Popov said at the news conference on September 7 that ?unilateral? statements from the Georgian side about the South Ossetian conflict zone being part of Georgia?s sovereign territory ?are counterproductive,? according to Interfax.

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