Eurasia Press & News
Russia and Georgia concluded their 14th round of talks in Geneva on Thursday, without reaching agreement on security and other issues of mutual concern.
According to the press communique delivered by the co-chairs of the talks, discussions were carried out by two separate working groups — one on “a review of the security situation on the ground ” and the other on “humanitarian issues.” None of the working groups produced concrete agreement.
In a press conference following the talks, Georgia’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Bokeria regarded the round as ” quite disappointing.”
He blamed Russia for not only refusing to pledge non-use of force against Georgia, but also conducted “further militarization” in the region by deploying additional weapon systems.
Responding to Bokeria’s remarks, a Russian representative at the scene attributed the “broken” dialogues to Georgia’s own decision to “commit aggression against Ossetia in August, 2008.”
“We have not used force on our initiative”, but rather “used it only to turn back aggression,” said the Russian representative, blaming Georgia for not recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia and “lack of flexibility” in the dialogues.
The next round of talks between Russia and Georgia will be held on March 4, 2011. The last round of their internationally-mediated talks, held in Oct. 14, 2010, also failed to produce positive results on key security issues.
