Geneva - Russia and Georgia agreed at talks Wednesday in
Geneva to hold a security meeting later this month in the disputed
region of Abkhazia.
The two countries, who went to war in August 2008 over the
breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia, on Wednesday concluded
their sixth round of ongoing negotiations and agreed to resume talks
in the autumn.
Representatives from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's second
breakaway region, also participated in the meetings.
The talks yielded a commitment to hold the first meeting of one of
the so-called 'joint incident prevention and response mechanisms' in
an area under Abkhaz control on July 14 in Gali.
Chairing the rounds of talks are the European Union, the United
Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE).
They said the other mechanism for South Ossetia should meet soon
as well, having sat together only twice since the system was created
in February.
Matthew Bryza, head of the United States delegation to the
negotiations, said that South Ossetia demanded Georgia recognize its
independence before such a security meeting could convene.
The next round of the negotiations would take place on September
17 in Geneva.
Two of the chairs - the United Nations and the OSCE - have lost
their mandates to operate missions in the region in recent days,
following Russian vetoes in both organizations, leaving only the EU
mission to continue monitoring work.
The OSCE mission's future was still under discussion in Vienna,
where the organization is based.
Russian officials have tied the missions to a greater role for the
de facto governments in the breakaway territories, including separate
international observers in those regions that would cooperate with
the authorities.
Moscow recognized the regions as independent states after the
August 2008 war but has garnered little international support for
their new status. Russia and Georgia have broken off direct
diplomatic ties, which are now handled through Switzerland.
The Geneva talks have yielded few practical results. They are
mainly aimed at reducing security incidents along the de facto border
areas and solving humanitarian issues, including the welfare of
refugee populations.
On the second front, the chairs announced that there had been an
agreement to carry out a joint assessment of the rehabilitation needs
of the water supply system in the area.
EU chair Pierre Morel admitted that the talks, as usual, had been
'difficult' at times.
The US had pushed for greater security cooperation, saying that
reducing military tension was of 'particular importance' given
Russia's ongoing military exercise.
Russia has enraged Georgia this week by conducting military
exercises in the Caucasus with some 8,500 troops, the largest such
operation since the war.
Grigory Karasin, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told reporters
after the talks that he expected that the 'summer should be quiet' in
the region.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story