No agreement reached at IPRM meeting in Ergneti

The Incidents Prevention and Response Mechanism Meeting between the Georgian and de facto South Ossetian authorities in the village of Ergneti ended on Thursday with no results being achieved. The head of the Georgian delegation, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry Shota Utiashvili, said that the de facto Tskhinvali officials had left the meeting before any agreements could be reached.

“The reason they left the negotiations was because they refused to discuss the issues raised by the Georgian side," Utiashvili told journalists after the meeting. He said that the subjects proposed by the Georgian officials for discussion included the release of Georgians “illegally imprisoned” in Tskhinvali and security issues in the region.

After leaving the talks the de facto South Ossetian Special Representative in Post Conflict Regulation Issues Boris Chochiev told journalists that the South Ossetian side had “given a chance” to Georgia to resume the IPRM meetings. He said however that the meetings should be “result oriented” and not be held “just for the sake of holding a meeting.”

The de facto Special Representative said that the South Ossetian side will raise the issue of signing a non-use of force document at the upcoming Geneva talks, accusing Tbilisi of “avoiding” signing such a document with Tskhinvali and Sokhumi. He said the refusal of Georgian officials to sign the document is a “violation” of the Medvedev-Sarkozy six-point ceasefire agreement. “Georgia and its supporter states are trying to make Russia sign the agreement, however they forget that according to the Sarkozy-Medvedev six point agreement neither South Ossetia nor Russia are obliged to give guarantees about the non-use of force to anyone,” Chochiev said.

The Georgian side refuses to sign a non-use of force document with its breakaway regions, saying that it should be signed with Moscow as Russia is a side of the conflict. The 11th round of Geneva talks is scheduled for June 8.