Russia to withdraw border guards from Perevi village

Russia has decided to withdraw its border guards from the village of Perevi, located on the border of the Jav region of South Ossetia and the Sachkher region of Georgia. The guards may leave next week, RIA Novosti reports, citing the state-secretary of the Russian deputy minister of foreign affairs, Grigoriy Karasin, who was commenting on the results of the Geneva discussions on security and stability in the Transcaucasus.

The Geneva discussions have been held since October 2008, based on agreements between the Russian and French presidents, which they came to after the tragic events in South Ossetia in August 2008. Delegations from Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the USA, South Ossetia, representatives of the EU, the UN and the OSCE are taking part in the discussions. At the previous talks the sides reached agreement on prevention and settlement of incidents in Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The diplomat recalled that in December 2008 Russian border guards left Perevi because it is a disputed territory, not part of the administrative border of South Ossetia.

As soon as they left, Georgian special forces broke into it and the Georgian president described this as the greatest victory of Georgian arms. The border guards returned, Karasin said.

The diplomat expressed hope that, after the withdrawal, the Perevi issue for the fulfillment of Russia's obligations under the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan will be resolved. Karasin noted that Russia had held negotiations with EU monitoring groups in Georgia to prevent another propaganda move from the Georgian side.

On the night of August 7-8, 2008 Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia and inflicted great damage to its capital Tskhinvali. Russia sent its forces to protect South Ossetians. Georgian forces were pushed out within five days.

In late August 2008 Russia recognized independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had been trying to achieve it since early 1990s. In return Tbilisi closed all diplomatic relations with Moscow and proclaimed the territories occupied. Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru also recognized independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.