Today in Tskhinval the president of South Ossetia, Leonid Tibilov, has declared at a meeting with the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions that the Georgian side is conducting intensive preparations for a war around the perimeter of the border with South Ossetia.
Georgia is preparing seriously for a war – President of South Ossetia
“We have reliable information about the current intentions of Georgia. In particular, in the area adjacent to the territory of Leningor, the Georgian Ministry of Defense is building fortifications. In all the border villages are Georgia has constructed warehouses for the storage of small arms,” said the president.
According to him, all these actions lead to the conclusion that they are directed against the people of South Ossetia, which two days later will mark the 22nd anniversary of the formation of the Republic.
“For all these years we have been expressing the principles of entrenchment of our statehood and good relations with other countries. We have always been following peace. War will never lead to anything good; there are victims on both sides. And we have to protect our people,” emphasized the president.
He has underscored that today is not the time for “saber-rattling”, but for those provocations expected from Georgia will be the responsibility of its leaders.
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‘Georgia gearing up for new war’ – S. Ossetia leader
The president of South Ossetia has told international intermediaries that the activity near his country’s border suggests that Georgia is readying for a new war.
Leonid Tibilov told the representatives of the European Union, OSCE and United Nations that South Ossetian intelligence possessed serious information that the Georgian side was building fortifications and creating ammunition dumps in the villages near the border between the two countries. He added that such events invoked thoughts that Georgia plans a military action against the people of South Ossetia.
Tibilov told the foreign diplomats that his country will remain in a position of peaceful coexistence with other nations and the responsibility for all provocations and threats must be put on the current leadership of Georgia.
The intermediaries’ visit to the South Ossetian capital Tskhinval was held ahead of the so-called Geneva International Discussion on the Georgian Crisis – the multinational forum tasked with the aim of improving security and the humanitarian conditions in the region.
In August this year, Russian Foreign Ministry officials said that Georgian authorities were still considering using force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia – two breakaway states that were officially recognized independent by Russia and several other states after South Ossetia in 2008 repelled, with Russian help, Georgian aggression that sought to reclaim the republic as its territory. Russian diplomats pointed out that official Tbilisi was inflating fears about the threat from Russia ahead of October’s parliamentary vote.
Russia sees South Ossetia as its principal ally in the region and renders significant help to the republic. This year Moscow allocated 9 billion rubles (US$298.8 million) for the restoration of South Ossetia, and another 8.5 billion rubles ($282.2 million) will be provided to the republic by 2013.
