S. Ossetian parliament to ask for Russia's help to secure borders
TSKHINVAL. Sept 6 (Interfax) - The South Ossetian parliament will forward an appeal to the Russian Federation Council and State Duma over the installation of a Georgian police post near the village of Uista, the Znaur district.
"The lawmakers are outraged by the fact that Georgian security agencies have advanced into South Ossetian territory and deployed an armed checkpoint at an elevated position near the village of Uista (Tsnelis)," the parliament said.
The parliament planned to adopt the appeal at an ad hoc session at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.
The appeal says that, by seeking to take control of part of South Ossetia's southwestern territory rich in deposits of talc, marble, serpentinite, and expanded clay, Georgia is escalating the tension in the region.
"The Republic of South Ossetia's sovereignty over the territory, which has been targeted by Georgia for yet another military expansion attempt, can be confirmed by the decree on the establishment of the autonomous region of South Ossetia of April 22, 1922 and archive documents," the document says.
Any attempts to peacefully settle a new military-political crisis during the recent meetings within the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) format have proven futile because of Georgia's unconstructive position, it says.
"The European Union, which is represented in the negotiating process by the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, has in fact reneged on its obligations to guarantee the non-use of force principle, in contravention of Clause 2 of the Memorandum on the negotiations between Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and an EU delegation led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy of September 8, 2008," it says.
At the same time, the document says, the South Ossetian-Russian treaty on allied relations and integration of March 18, 2015 envisions a coordinated foreign policy, which implies mutual consideration of each other's interests in various fields of cooperation, informing each other of actions taken in this respect, and close interaction toward promoting peace, stability, and security in the Caucasus region.
The abovementioned circumstances prompted the South Ossetian parliament to appeal to the Russian Federation Council and State Duma for assistance in invoking the treaty on allied relations and integration, under which Russia shall assume responsibility for South Ossetia's defense and security, including the protection of its borders, the document says.
The South Ossetian parliament insisted on immediately holding inter-parliamentary consultations to develop approaches that should help de-escalate the tension and ensure the security of the republic's citizens.
Last week, Tskhinval issued a protest to Tbilisi over the construction of a post near the Georgian village of Chorchana, adjacent to the village of Tsnelis, which is controlled by South Ossetia. The Georgian State Security Service said in response that the structure in question was an ordinary police post installed on an area under Georgia's control, which posed no danger to South Ossetia.