MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin has stressed the importance of work with Georgia to prevent new escalations after the incident on the border with South Ossetia.

"Following the recent incident when Georgian citizens illegally crossed South Ossetia’s border, we stressed the need for more active work of the co-chairs with official Tbilisi in order to prevent new escalations on the Georgian-South Ossetian border," the Russian foreign ministry said on Tuesday after Galuzin’s meeting with the co-chairs of the international Geneva discussions on security and stability in the South Caucasus.

"In the context of the efforts toward strengthening security on the ground, the Russian side once again drew attention to the importance of a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force between Tbilisi on the one side and Sukhum and Tskhinval on the other, as well as of the beginning of the process of delimiting Georgia’s borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and their subsequent demarcation," the ministry said.

Apart from that, the sides discussed preparations for the next round of discussions on the South Caucasus due to be held in early December. "The sides reiterated their commitment to further constructive work within this negotiating format, which has a stabilizing effect on the situation in the region," it stressed.

Along with Galuzin, the meeting was attended by Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for the South Caucasus Viorel Mosanu, a EU deputy special representative for the South Caucasus, and a UN deputy special representative.

Georgia’s State Security Service said on November 6 that a Georgian national had been shot dead when being detained by South Ossetian officers near the village of Kirbali. According to South Ossetia’s State Security Committee, border violators offered resistance and South Ossetian officers had to open fire at their car, killing a Georgian citizen.