OSCE Envoy Condemns ‘Inflammatory Disinformation’

Terhi Hakala, the head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, said she was “outraged” by “inflammatory disinformation,” which she said was aimed at undermining the OSCE’s efforts to contribute to peace.

“To suggest that the OSCE had any connection whatsoever with the recent explosion is preposterous and highly dangerous for the already tense security situation,” she said in a written statement released on October 6, referring to the October 3 explosion in Tskhinvali in which at least 11 people died, including Russian troops.

Some Russian online news wires quoted an unnamed South Ossetian source, who suggested OSCE involvement in the incident. According to Russian military commanders in South Ossetia, the vehicle that exploded had Georgian number plates. They said it had been seized by Russian troops about six kilometers from Tskhinvali and escorted to the Russian military headquarters in the breakaway region’s capital. According to the unnamed South Ossetian source, the vehicle had been seized as it was following an OSCE convoy.

"I am outraged to see the continuation of disinformation leveled at the Mission which appears to aim at undermining the OSCE’s efforts to contribute to peaceful conflict resolution,” the OSCE mission head said in the statement.

She said such disinformation about the OSCE mission “may be taken as a signal of unwillingness on the part of those responsible to work constructively.”

“The spreading of untruthful propaganda about the Mission – which includes several previous entirely false accounts connected with OSCE staff and premises – is a serious matter, endangers OSCE personnel,” she added.

Hakala’s “previous entirely false accounts” apparently refer to an allegation leveled by the authorities in breakaway South Ossetian last month. South Ossetian law enforcement officers claimed they found “leaflets calling for the toppling of the legally elected leadership of South Ossetia” in the basement of the OSCE mission’s field office in Tskhinvali.

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