President of breakaway South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity said in an interview with the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on November 17 that he will not hold talks with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, citing that the South Ossetian leader and Georgian PM are not ?equal rank officials.?
?I think that Georgian-Ossetian talks over conflict resolution is only possible between officials with equal ranks and Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli does not have to meet with me, but with Premier of South Ossetia Yuri Morozov. We have already compromised once and I met with [late] Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania [last December] to demonstrate that we [the South Ossetian side] are ready for dialogue,? Eduard Kokoity said.
During the previous meetings of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission over South Ossetian conflict resolution, the sides agreed to hold talks between Kokoity and Nogaideli, but this agreement has never been fulfilled.
Russia?s surprise proposal to hold quadripartite talks with participation of the Georgian and Russian Presidents, as well as leaders of Russia?s North Ossetian Republic and breakaway South Ossetia was not only rejected but also strongly condemned by the Georgian side at the session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) held in Ljubljana on November 15-16.
Kokoity also said that talks between Georgian PM Nogaideli and Prime Minister of breakaway region can only take place either in Russia ?or in any other country besides Georgia.?
The South Ossetian leader reiterated his position that Tskhinvali strongly backs the current Russian-dominated negotiating format, which Tbilisi is trying to change through involvement of the U.S. and EU.
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