"Throughout the day, we have tried to get a reply from Tskhinvali concerning the place and time of the meeting between the Georgian Premier and Eduard Kokoity," said Khaindrava. "We have not received a clear answer yet."
"The South Ossetian side insists that the meeting be organised via foreign policy departments, "the Georgian state minister said.
Khaindrava presumes that the talks could be prevented by the shooting at the vehicle of Russian peacekeepers, in which State Duma deputy Andrei Kokoshin was riding. The Russian Foreign Ministry had sent a note of protest to Georgia concerning the shooting at a ranking Russian delegation in South Ossetia.
"A Russian delegation led by Andrei Kokoshin, chairman of the State Duma committee on the CIS and compatriots, was shot at from the Georgian territory in the vicinity of the Ossetian village of Sarabuk, 10-12 km outside Tskhinvali, on Wednesday," said the statement of the Foreign Ministry's Press and Information Department delivered to RIA.
The Russian foreign ministry points out that the delegation had come to South Ossetia from Tbilisi, where it had meetings and talks with Georgian officials. "They had been notified of the subsequent route of the Russian delegation," the Foreign Ministry statement says.
"The delegation was shot at when it was moving, accompanied by Russian and Georgian peacekeepers, to the location of the Georgian military groups illegally deployed in the conflict zone," the Ministry statement says. This is "not just another breach of all effective agreements and accords by the Georgian side," says the statement. "This time, a direct attempt has been made at the safety of ranking Russian representatives, one of whose aims in coming to Georgia was to facilitate the easing of tensions in the region."
"While making this protest, we also call on the Georgian authorities to investigate the accident without delay and to expose and punish the executors of the anti-Russian provocation," the statement says.
