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Next round of Geneva Discussions due to be held next March ― diplomat

Speaking about Wednesday’s 38th round of talks, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said that they were "predictably tense"

GENEVA, December 14. /TASS/. The 39th round of the Geneva Discussions on security and stability in the South Caucasus has been scheduled for next March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, the head of the Russian delegation at the talks, told TASS on Wednesday.

"The next meeting has been planned for the second half of March, 2017," Karasin said.

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Speaking about Wednesday’s 38th round of talks, Karasin said that they were "predictably tense." The participants agreed to continue drawing up a non-use of force statement, which had not been approved at the current talks due to Georgia’s position.

"The work will go on as the wording has been, in principle, worked out and is admissible," the diplomat said, adding, "We will be insisting that such statement is adopted."

The Geneva Discussions on security and stability in the South Caucasus are the only platform for a dialogue between Georgia and the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. They are held under the auspices of the UN, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) with participation of Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Georgia, Russia and the United States.

The Geneva Discussions were held upon agreements reached by the Russian and French presidents after tragic events in August 2008 in South Ossetia when Georgia attacked it. That entailed Russia's peacemaking operation in the region. Soon after that Moscow recognized independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

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