Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Meets S.Ossetian Leader

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin held talks with South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity in Moscow on June 9, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

“[Karasin and Kokoity] have exchanged opinions about the situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and discussed the prospects for the prompt resumption of negotiations in the frames of the existing formats,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Tbilisi wants to scrap the current Russian-dominated negotiating format for South Ossetia – the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) – and replace it with a 2+2+2 formula, which would see Russia’s North Ossetia being replaced by the Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration and the inclusion of the OSCE and the EU. The move is opposed by Moscow and Tskhinvali.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, said on May 30 it was time to look into possibilities for a new negotiating format for resolving the South Ossetian conflict.