NEW YORK, February 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russia is in
favor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe running separate missions in Georgia and South Ossetia,
the Russian envoy to the UN said Friday.
"The Russian Federation is ready to support the extension
of the OSCE's fieldwork both in Georgia and in South Ossetia
taking into account the new political-legal realities in the
region, which would involve the establishment of two separate
OSCE missions in Georgia and South Ossetia," Vitaly Churkin
told a UN Security Council session.
Churkin said the OSCE mission's mandate in Georgia expired
on December 31, 2008, and that the mission started "folding its
activity" on January 1.
He also said that South Ossetian authorities were also in
favor of establishing two separate missions. "And we understand
them taking into account the tragic events of August 2008," he
said.
The OSCE has worked in Georgia since 1992, and after its
mandate expired, Russia refused to agree to extend the OSCE
mission in Georgia in its current form, as, in Moscow's
opinion, the mission's directive should not be expanded to the
territory of the now independent republics of South Ossetia and
Abkhazia.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as
independent states two weeks after the end of a five-day war
with Georgia last August, which began when Georgian forces
attacked South Ossetia in a bid to bring it back under central
control.
News
