MOSCOW, February 21 (RIA Novosti) - Leaders of the Joint Control Commission for the Georgian-South Ossetian Conflict Resolution called on Georgia Tuesday to drop plans to end the current peacekeeping mission.
"The Russian, South Ossetian and North Ossetian sides of the Commission are calling on the Georgian side to refuse from undermining the existing format of the Joint Control Commission and the Collective Peacekeeping Forces, which safeguard peace and stability in the region," the leaders said after their session in Moscow on February 20-21.
The sides voiced their concerns over the sharp deterioration of the situation in South Ossetia. "It has been primarily caused by Georgia's policy seeking to thwart talks on the conflict's settlement," they said.
The situation in the conflict zone deteriorated after 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.
Russian troops are stationed in the region as part of the trilateral 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.
