The first diplomatic passport of the Republic of South Ossetia was handed over to Leonid Tibilov, South Ossetia President, during a meeting with Kazbulat Tskhovrebov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, on November, 23.

The first session of the Expert Council affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized under Minister Tskhovrebov’s Order dated August 1, 2015 took place on November 19, 2015.

Within the session “Current foreign policy of the Republic of South Ossetia” the participants spoke about the importance of foreign policy agenda for the Republics’ national interests. Members of the council were united in their certainty that free exchange of expert opinions on current issues of foreign policy is a necessity. Alongside with this the attendees welcomed the initiative of organizing the Expert Council affiliated to the Ministry as a forum where broad range of foreign policy topics and international agenda could be discussed and the mechanism of interaction between the MFA of the Republic and expert community would be developed.

The 2nd meeting of the EU-Georgia Association Council took place on November, 16. Once again members of the European Union “confirmed their solid support for territorial integrity of Georgia” and expressed concern of the Treaty on Alliance and Integration signed between the Republic of South Ossetia and the Russian Federation.

November, 17 saw a meeting of Murat Dzhioev, the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, heading South Ossetian mission, with the Co-Chairs of the Geneva International Discussions representing the EU, the OSCE and the UN who had arrived to Tskhinval in anticipation of the coming round of the discussions.

The agenda of the 34th round of the discussions, planned for December 8-9, 2015 was talked over.

The Catalan Parliament initiated process of separating the autonomous community from Spain when accepted a corresponding resolution on November, 9.

Despite the sharp reaction for the resolution expressed in Madrid and EU in general, we hope the parties would manage to exercise restraint and use peaceful political tools in order to solve contentious questions through passing an exam on commitment to democratic values that are widely advocated in Europe.

Alan Kochiev, the Acting Foreign Minister, and officers of South Ossetia Foreign Ministry laid flowers at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of South Ossetia commemorating the passengers and the crew who became victims of the air disaster when Russian airliner went down in flames in Egypt.

October, 20 saw a meeting of the UN Security Council where Vitaly Churkin, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations, called for termination of the USA arbitrary, as the States abuse their rights of the international organization receiving country. In particular there was a talk about visa discrimination of South Ossetia and Abkhazia representatives whom the US authorities refused visas under far-fetched pretexts. Thereby South Ossetia and Abkhazia are deprived of the opportunity to provide unbiased information when the State Parties are considering draft resolutions on the refugees’ problems that are annually submitted by Georgia for consideration of the UN General Assembly.

Fatou Bensouda, the International Criminal Court Prosecutor, submitted an official request to the ICCt to conduct an investigation of the August affairs, when Georgia unleashed a full-scaled military aggression against South Ossetia.

Regular round of the Geneva International Discussions was held on October, 6-7, 2015. Official mission from South Ossetia, headed by Murat Dzhioev, the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, missions from Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the USA as well as representatives of the EU, the UN and OSCE took part in negotiations.

July 6, 2015 saw Mauro Murgia, the President of Italy - South Ossetia Friendship Society, organizing a news conference in Palermo, Sicily. Reliable and accurate information on history of formation of the Republic of South Ossetia and the current international status of the Republic was delivered to the Italian journalists.

After the news conference the attendees were given an opportunity to examine South Ossetia and perceive the life of this small Caucasian country and its people through a photo exhibition “South Ossetia: the Country and People” prepared by Leonardo Mattioli.