June 20-21, 2017 saw a regular round of the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia. Official mission from the Republic of South Ossetia, headed by Murat Dzhioev, the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, missions from the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation and the USA as well as representatives of the EU, the UN and the OSCE took part in negotiations.

As usual, the discussions were held in two working groups: on security and humanitarian issues.

The issue of guarantees for non-use of force in Georgian-South Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian relations remains the main subject for discussion in working group I. South Ossetian representatives suggested agreeing and admitting at the round a joint statement of all participants on commitment to the principle of non-use of force - an interim document, which wording has been under consideration for several rounds. Such a document would allow fixing the positions of each party and getting to the work on the main objective of the Discussions – development of a bilateral international agreement on non-use of force within the framework of general security situation in Transcaucasia, which would have firm international warranties for implementation. Adoption of the joint statement was possible at the round, however at the last moment Georgian delegation refused of the agreements and undermined further work in that direction. It was suggested to continue finalizing the wording of the statement and button it up by the coming round.

Representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia expressed concern of NATO military enlargement in Georgia and creation of infrastructural objects of the Alliance on territory of the state. At the background of persistent reluctance of Georgian authorities to develop good-neighboring relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia and on-going territorial claims of Georgia in relation to the sovereign states - the Republic of South Ossetia and the Republic of Abkhazia, further harmonization of NATO with Georgia can’t but raise concern.

During the discussion on maintaining security in the region South Ossetian representatives drew attention of other participants to a new strategy pursued by Georgian authorities, aimed at creation of a negative image of South Ossetia, accusing it groundlessly of “human right violations” and “closed nature of policy”. At the same time South Ossetian participants noted, they were precisely Georgian authorities who prevent international representatives of visiting South Ossetia.

Once again South Ossetian delegates suggested Georgian party to get to joint works on delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia that would help to prevent numerous problems related to absence of agreements on the border. The provocative character of “guided tours” to the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia, organized by Georgian authorities for foreign delegations, was emphasized as well.

The participants of the Discussions positively assessed the activity of the IPRM as an important factor of maintaining stability and security about South Ossetian-Georgian border. The productivity of the “hot line” organized upon the Mechanism was emphasized as well.
Representatives of South Ossetia informed other participants of the Discussions of the important political events that have taken place in South Ossetia since the previous round and emphasized the readiness of South Ossetian authorities to build good-neighboring relations for maintaining peace and security in the region.

As an essential part of general security and humanitarian situation, issues related to the search of citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia, kidnapped and lost on territory of Georgia, were discussed as well. South Ossetia participants expressed hope that Dusan Ignjatovic, the independent international expert invited by the OSCE, would continue his work in search of the unaccounted for Ossetians, kidnapped by Georgian security agencies in October 2008.

Due to the fact that once again Georgia has submitted to the UN General Assembly the resolution on the issue of refugees, South Ossetian and Abkhazian participants of the Discussions considered it impossible to discuss the problem within the format. According to the joint statement of South Ossetian and Abkhazian delegations distributed at both working groups, renewal of negotiations on this subject would become possible when Georgia gives up turning artificially the problem into a political issue and pursuing the policy of discussing problems behind the backs of the states which are interested in solution of those problems.

During the discussion on cultural heritage, South Ossetian participants once again put on table the issue of returning to South Ossetia the unique icon-triptych, which had been stolen from South Ossetia museum and for the time being is in Georgia. Once again attention was drawn to the problem of preservation of those Ossetian historical-cultural monuments that are located on territory of Eastern Ossetia, which currently is under Georgian control. The Ossetians who were driven out are not allowed to go there. Once again Ossetian representatives called for Georgian side to provide access to the historical territory of Ossetia (Tyrsygom), which currently is under Georgian control, being totally depopulated of the banishment of the Ossetian population, for examination and evaluation of the conditions of monuments of Ossetian historical architectural heritage, located there.

The next meeting in Geneva is preliminary scheduled for October 2017.