October 9-10, 2018 saw a regular round of the Geneva International Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia, which are conducted in accordance with Medvedev-Sarkozy's agreements dated August 12, 2008 and September 8, 2008. Official delegation of the Republic of South Ossetia, headed by Murat Dzhioev, the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Republic of South Ossetia on post-conflict settlement, delegates 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.

The discussions were held in two working groups: on security and humanitarian issues.

In the beginning of the discussions the South Ossetian participants submitted proposals on updating the agenda of the Discussions and increasing the productivity of the acting format in general.

During the discussions held in Working group I the South Ossetian party suggested going back to draft brief statement of the participants on commitment to the principle of non-use of force. It was specified that making this statement as an interim step would promote maintaining firm security of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and elaborating the concept of regional stability and security, which would exclude repeatability of the notorious events of August 2008 - recurrence of the Georgian aggression against out states. However the destructive policy of the Georgian party has again led to breakdown of the discussion.

The most serious attention of other participants has been drawn to the on-going Georgian activity in intentional misinforming of the international community regards the situation in South Ossetia and the existing realities in South Caucasus. In particular, passages from the Georgian Prime Minister’s speech from the UN rostrum were mentioned. It has been underlined that South Ossetia must have an opportunity to present its positions at the existing international venues.

Detailed conversation on security and stability about the South Ossetian-Georgian and the Abkhazian-Georgian borders took place. Relative stability in the near-border areas was emphasized. The South Ossetian party noted facts of intentional violation of the state border and the border regime that are considered as blatant provocations by the Georgian party. In order to minimize the number of near-border incidents and to strengthen stability the South Ossetian delegation has once again urged the Georgian delegation to get to joint works on delimitation and demarcation of the state border between the Republic of South Ossetia and Georgia. It was specified that conducting military exercises with participation of NATO countries in close vicinity to the South Ossetian borders is a threat factor for stability and security situation in the region.

The South Ossetian delegation marked the importance of the IPRM. Members of the delegation emphasized the relevancy and the constructive character of the format and urged the Georgian side to back out of setting conditions, impeding renewal of work within the format, such as including in the agenda of IPRM meetings issues, which go beyond the framework of the format, but are used by the Georgian side with propaganda purposes.

The South Ossetian representatives called for refusal of the terms “occupation” and “occupied territories” used in relation to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, having reminded that the inadmissibility of those terms had been proved by international experts at the 20th round of the Discussions.

The South Ossetian representatives presented documentary material about important social and economic developments in South Ossetia, including prompt construction of social and education facilities and development of transport infrastructure, which is underway in South Ossetia with the help of the Russian Federation.

Once again has the South Ossetian party drawn attention to the increased incidence of outbreaks of serious untypical for the region diseases among people and animals, which are caused by new viruses strains, and to the high chance that it is correlated with the activity of so-called Richard Lugar Center for Public Health, located in the vicinity of Tbilisi.

As an essential part of general security and humanitarian situation, issues related to the search of citizens of the Republic of South Ossetia, kidnapped by representatives of Georgian security agencies and lost in territory of Georgia, were discussed in Working group II. As it was noted, a speedy solution of this issue would positively affect processes within the GID.

Once again the most serious attention was drawn to the fact that Georgia had seriously been violating human rights of the Ossetians, natives of the Kazbegi region (Tyrsygom), who have been banned from visiting their ancestral villages.

The problem of refugees wasn’t discussed within the round, as renewal of negotiations on this subject would become possible only if Georgia gives up turning artificially the problem into a political issue.

The next meeting in Geneva is scheduled for December 2018.