Moscow/Geneva - Russia is set to station fewer troops in the
Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia than originally
planned, Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Kolmakov said Tuesday.
The announcement came as negotiators met in Geneva to hold their
fifth round of talks on last summer's conflict. The round got off to
a rough start on Monday, after Abkhazia did not show, and South
Ossetia left, followed by Russia.
The talks Tuesday, however, were 'the most in-depth, substantive
discussions we have had since the start of discussions,' said Pierre
Morel, the chief negotiator for the European Union.
The first round took place last October, when again delegations
also walked out and discussions hardly got under way.
His other two co-chairs, Charalampos Christopoulos from the
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the
UN's Johan Verbeke, concurred.
The progress appeared limited to procedural issues and
commitments.
The co-chairs would be responsible at the next round for preparing
the working papers for the humanitarian issues, such as refugees,
housing and water, instead of the parties to the conflict.
Also, the parties renewed their commitment to incident prevention
mechanisms, meant to reduce violence. These mechanisms were announced
last time, but did not get off the ground, except for one meeting in
South Ossetia.
The negotiators, which also include the United States, said they
believed progress on security issues would lay the ground work for
the sides to deal with the underlying issues of the conflict, which
go back nearly two decades.
The sides agreed to meet again on July 1 in Geneva for the sixth
round of talks.
Russia's original plan for the troops was to have 3,800 soldiers
each in the two secessionist provinces, which Moscow recognized as
independent states following the fighting in South Ossetia between
Georgia and Russia last summer.
'It would not make sense to fully transfer bases to Abkhazia and
South Ossetia,' Kolmakov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as
saying.
According to Russia's military, lightly armoured units as well as
tanks for combat in mountainous terrain would be deployed.
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