Grigory Karasin, the Russian deputy foreign minister, met with Pierre Morel, the EU’s special representative for the Georgian crisis, in Moscow on December 2, ahead of the third round of Geneva talks planned for December 17-18.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in its press release that the two officials discussed “increasing tensions in the zones adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia related with the actions of the Georgian side.” It also said that issues related with security and internally displaced persons were also discussed.
In his article published by the Russian newspaper, Izvestia, on December 2 Grigory Karasin accused Georgia of deploying the Interior Ministry’s 500-strong special task force and setting up of 24 checkpoints across the borderline along the South Ossetian administrative borderline, which, he said, was a violation of the ceasefire agreements.
The Georgian Interior Ministry said in a statement released on December 2, that only lightly armed police forces were deployed in the area and the Russian allegations “are not true.” It also said that the police force in the region is under the monitoring of the EU observers.
-
-
-
-
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)