Statement in Connection with the Adoption of a Resolution on South Ossetia by the Georgian Parliament

Unofficial translation from Russian

STATEMENT BY THE FOREIGN MINISTRY OF RUSSIA

The Georgian parliament has passed a resolution pertaining to the situation in the Georgia-Ossetia conflict zone. Effectively it contains the demand for a termination of the mission of the peacekeeping contingent in the conflict zone and a revision of the 1992 Sochi Agreement. The Georgian government has been told to step up work to achieve these goals.

The resolution passed causes concern in Moscow because it is part of the anti-Russian campaign being mounted in Georgia in recent weeks and calls for a dismantling of the existing mechanisms and legal-treaty basis of the settlement of the Georgia-Ossetia conflict. The decision is fraught with growing tensions in the conflict zone.

The decision of the Georgian lawmakers is a clear indication that Georgia may embark on a road leading to destabilization of the entire region. It remains to hope that the executive branch in Georgia will treat this problem with all responsibility and restraint.

We deem it necessary to reaffirm that the Russian side will continue to act in accordance with its international obligations and proceeding from its own responsibility for maintaining stability and security in the region.

We also deem it necessary to warn against a repeat of the recent provocations aimed at challenging the peacekeepers, as well as the South Ossetian side, to retaliate.

We are still convinced that all the problems and concerns the parties to the conflict have must be discussed and be resolved in the framework of existing negotiating formats. As regards the Georgia-Ossetia conflict, the Joint Control Commission provides such a tested mechanism which has more than once demonstrated its effectiveness. We come out for an early meeting of its co-chairmen to agree a joint program of actions to settle the conflict. The basis for it could be the proposals put forward by Mikhail Saakashvili at the 59th session of the UN General Assembly and the December 2005 initiatives of Eduard Kokoity.

As for the claim of the Georgian parliamentarians about an "OSCE-approved plan of peaceful settlement", such a plan does not exist yet.

February 15, 2006