Press release on the Consultations on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus

On December 10-11, the 50th round of Consultations on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus was held in Geneva. It was attended by representatives of the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Republic of South Ossetia, the Russian Federation, and the United States. The event was co-chaired by the EU, the UN and the OSCE. The Russian delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.

The participants confirmed the importance of the Geneva International Discussions that remains the non-alternative negotiating venue for a direct dialogue between Tbilisi, on the one hand, and Sukhum and Tskhinval, on the other. The operation of this international format for the past 11 years has helped maintain relative stability in the region, which alone can be seen as a vial component of confidence building in the South Caucasus.

The Russian delegation underscored the need to resume the work on the participants’ statement concerning the non-use of force. Its approval would be a real contribution to stability and security in the South Caucasus. Our Abkhazian and South Ossetian partners sided with this approach. Regrettably, the Georgian delegation, supported by the United States, stuck to its former negativist position.

Concern was expressed over the persisting tensions on the Georgian-South Ossetian border, especially in the vicinity of the village of Tsnelis. The Russian delegation again called on the parties to show restraint and to look for ways to settle their differences, primarily within the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), which meets in Ergneti, and urged Georgia and South Ossetia to launch talks on the border issues without delay.

The participants reaffirmed the importance of dealing with humanitarian problems, including through efforts to facilitate contacts between people and ease the border crossing regime.

The Russian side again stressed the need to ensure access to related international venues, primarily UN agencies, for representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The solution of this problem, along with Georgia’s refusal to promote its annual UN General Assembly resolution on the internally displaced persons and refugees, would help relaunch a detailed consideration of this set of issues within the framework of the Geneva International Discussions.

A UN-sponsored exchange of material on the Irakly Kvaratskhelia case was held in the trilateral format (Russia, Georgia and Abkhazia) on the sidelines of the consultations.

It has been agreed to hold the next round of the Geneva International Discussions in late March or early April 2020.