MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian foreign minister discussed Tuesday with a head of an influential European organization possible settlement of the deteriorating situation in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, the foreign ministry said.
The ministry said that in a telephone conversation Karel De Gucht, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) chairman and the foreign minister of Belgium, which holds the rotating chair in the organization, agreed with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that collective efforts should be stepped up to find a peaceful solution for the situation in South Ossetia, first of all, within the framework of the Joint Control Commission.
The situation in the conflict zone deteriorated following the parliament of Georgia, which seeks to bring South Ossetia and another rebellious republic, Abkhazia, back under its control, adopted a resolution last week, demanding the expulsion of the Russian troops from the region and the deployment of an international contingent there.
Russia argued that its withdrawal from the region would not be approved by South Ossetia, many of whose residents hold Russian passports and where anti-Georgian sentiments are still strong following bloody conflicts in the 1990s, and might lead to a new civil war.
The consulate department of the Russian Embassy in Georgia said earlier Tuesday that it would stop issuing visas as of February 21, 2006 barring cases involving humanitarian factors.
"This forced move is caused by the fact that despite agreements reached on the withdrawal of Russian military bases and facilities from Georgian territory, which also regulate the rotation of Russian servicemen, the Georgian side has created artificial barriers for the receipt of visas by Russian servicemen during the year," the embassy said.
Russian troops are stationed in the region as part of the trilateral Joint Collective Peacekeeping Forces, which also involve Georgian and Ossetian soldiers. They were deployed in South Ossetia in the early 1990s to ensure the implementation of ceasefire agreements after the conflict, but Georgia's West-leaning authorities have sought their expulsion since coming to power in 2004.
