Protests Continue in Tskhinvali
Opposition’s protest rally goes into sixth day on Monday as yet another day of negotiations between Alla Jioyeva’s allies and a Kremlin official failed to bring about any breakthrough on Sunday.
Alan Pliev, who is one of the four allies of Jioyeva taking part in the talks, said that the Sunday’s meetings yielded no results.
Sergey Vinokurov, who is in charge of inter-regional and cultural relations with foreign countries at the Russian President’s administration, described his role as "a mediator" between the opposition and the authorities.
"My role as a mediator is to defuse tensions and facilitate the sides to sit down at the negotiating table; so far we are succeeding in this," Interfax news agency reported, quoting Vinokurov as saying after the Sunday’s meeting. The Kremlin official is in Tskhinvali since November 30.
Jioyeva’s allies said that the Russian official told them to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision into the appeal by Jioyeva, who is requesting annulment of the court’s earlier decision through which results of the November 27 presidential runoff, won by Jioyeva, were invalidated. The opposition, however, fears that the court will try to drag out the hearings, which have yet to be launched.
Incumbent leader of breakaway South Ossetia, Eduard Kokoity, whose immediate resignation is among the demands of the opposition, said the authorities would not yield to the opposition’s ultimatums.
On Sunday, in an appeal to the international community, read out at the rally, protesters called for assistance in resolving the crisis.
"The people of South Ossetia appeal to you with a request to immediately intervene in current developments with a purpose to stabilize situation and to restore constitutional order… In case of a delay of the international community’s reaction one more tragedy may take place. The right of free choice of the entire people and of an individual represents an invariable value, which can not be subjected to manipulation," the local and Russian news agencies reported quoting the text of appeal. It also says that the post-election crisis "can provoke destabilization of the entire Caucasus."
Also on December 4, the voters in the breakaway region, majority of whom hold the Russian citizenship, cast ballot in the elections of State Duma, Russai’s lower house of the Parliament. A day earlier opposition called on the supporters to turn out at the polling stations and to voter for Russia’s ruling party United Russia in order to demonstrate that the protesters "stand beside Russia."
It was announced by speakers at the rally on December 4, that they plan to hold "presidential inauguration" of Alla Jioyeva on December 10.
Protesters in Tskhinvali center brave freezing winter nights by warming themselves up at fire barrels. Camped outside the government building in Tskhinvali’s central square, protesters vow to keep rallying before thier demands are are met.