TBILISI, February 15 (RIA Novosti, Marina Kvaratskhelia) - Georgia will keep working to replace Russian peacekeepers with a neutral international force in the zone of the conflict between the country and South Ossetia, the Georgian parliamentary speaker said Wednesday.
"The system under which Russian peacekeepers operate in the Tskhinvali Region [a Georgian name for the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia] cannot exist any longer," Nino Burdzhandze said.
The Georgian parliament approved Wednesday a resolution outlining major changes to the peacekeeping process in the republic.
The document gave a negative judgment on peacekeepers' work in South Ossetia, and said the activities of the Russian Federation in the region amounted to attempts at annexation.
The resolution called for the government to review the Sochi agreements of June 24, 1992 and to begin steps to replace the current peacekeeping contingent with an effective international peacekeeping contingent.
"We do not provoke military action, but are implementing a peaceful plan for the resolution of the conflict and the establishment of normal conditions for the peace process," the speaker said.
Burdzhanadze did not specify which countries could join the neutral peacekeeping force, but did not rule out that Ukraine could be among them.
She said parliament had not yet established a timeframe for Russian peacekeepers' withdrawal from the conflict zone.
"The withdrawal of peacekeepers is not an end in itself; our goal is the peaceful resolution of the conflict," Burdhznadze said.
"This process is very complicated and sensitive," she said, adding that the resolution was a major step.
