Tbilisi, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali still cannot agree on non-use of force treaty. The 13th round of unofficial discussions on South Caucasian security ended in Geneva. Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, the USA, Russia as well as the UN, the OSCE and EU representatives took part in the talks. The Georgian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokheria. Representatives of the current Georgian administrations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia (in exile) were members of the delegation. The Ossetian delegation was headed by vice-PM Boris Chochiev and the Abkhazian one - by special presidential envoy Vyacheslav Chirikba.
The delegations worked in two groups - one dealing with security issues and the other with humanitarian problems. No non-use of force treaty was signed, but the parties agreed to carry on multilateral consultations and to replace the EU international mission, which operates only in Georgia, with other missions. UN and OSCE missions used to operate in the region, however they had to shut down as the parties could not agree on their legal status. Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Russia do not accept missions that have Tbilisi as their only operational center and insist on the creation of several independent missions with their centers in Tbilisi, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. A compromise decision to make Vienna and New York (the headquarters of the OSCE and the UN respectively) the missions' centers, while field missions will be located on the front-line, was accepted.
Tbilisi won't sign the Russian version of the ceasefire accord, as that would imply a de-facto recognition of the Georgian ex-autonomies' independence. Georgia is ready to sign a peace accord with Russia but refuses to recognize the separatist republics as legal conflict parties. If the participants in the negotiations are not be able to agree on the treaty project, Tbilisi would prefer to leave things the way they are, i.e. to hold on to the Sarkozy-Medvedev treaty of 12.08.08, which is still valid. Its validity was also indirectly confirmed by the Russian side, as it declared its intention to remove its forces from the Georgian frontier village of Perevy. The Georgian side accepted this gesture as a victory for its diplomacy and not an act of goodwill by Russia. According to the Georgian Parliamentary Speaker, David Bakhralidze, this is the first step towards the total retreat of Russian troops now occupying Georgian territories. However, the local administration of the Sachhersk district, where Perevy is located, reports no signs of the Russian troops' retreat. Georgian experts explain the situation as a possible image loss for Russia.
However, the Geneva conference obtained some positive results: South Ossetia finally agreed to re-enter the 'group for incident settlement'. This group is the only visible result of all 12 previous meetings. The next round of negotiations will be held at the end of the year.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK
