GENEVA, June 26 (Itar-Tass) The 24th round of the discussions on stability and security in the Caucasus has opened in Geneva on Wednesday. The discussions held under the auspices of the United Nations, the European Union and OSCE are being attended by delegations from Georgia, Abkhazia, Russia, the United States, South Ossetia. The discussions have been held in a traditional format of two working groups which deal with problems of security and humanitarian problems, respectively.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in its press release before the discussions opened that problems of security in border areas on the border between Georgia with Abkhazia and South Ossetia would be given priority. In recent months the situation on the border between Georgia and South Ossetia has worsened as a result of the Georgian propagandist campaign, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Like in the previous years, the UN vote on the Georgian draft resolution on refugees will inevitably tell on the atmosphere at the discussions, the foreign ministry said. It expressed surprise over the fact that representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were again not invited to New York to explain their positions. This might provoke non-objective and unjust assessment of the sensitive problem and impede a calm discussion of the problem in Geneva, the foreign ministry warned.
On June 13 the UN General Assembly adopted a Georgian draft resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which deals with problems of refugees and resettled people. The draft resolution, which is the sixth in succession,was passed by 62 countries with 16 votes, including from Russia, against and 84 abstentions. The draft resolution says in one of the clauses that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia.
Representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have underlined that in Geneva they intend to focus on the development of a document which should oblige Georgia not to use force against the two developing republics.
President of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov earlier declared that throughout all the rounds of the Geneva discussions the South Ossetian side jointly with its colleagues from Abkhazia and the Russian Federation had been defending the interests of these countries, proceeding from the norms of the international law. Tibilov stressed that he would insist on signing the main document which would oblige Georgia not to use force against South Ossetia.
The discussions on problems of security and stability in the Caucasus have been held for five years on the basis of the agreements reached by the presidents of Russia and France after the tragic events in South Ossetia in August 2008.