"An armed group, the so-called third force, is active in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. It is not controlled by anyone and provokes the sides to skirmishes and firings," he said after a meeting of the co-chairs of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) on the settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. Mr. Chochiyev is the JCC co-chair from the South Ossetian side.
"During the latest developments, peacekeeping forces' checkpoints sometimes came under fire. Moreover, one time peacekeepers fired at each other from two neighboring checkpoints," said the South Ossetian representative. He did not specify what country peacekeepers who shot at each other belonged to.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador at Large Lev Mironov said that "today representatives of the military departments of the two countries tried to catch the 'batmen' and either cage or eliminate them."
According to the Novosti-Georgia agency, on Tuesday Givi Iukuridze, Chief of the General Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, who met with the command of Russian peacekeeping forces and South Ossetian military top, went to the conflict zone.
In his turn, co-chair of the JCC from the Georgian side, State Minister for Conflict Settlement Georgy Khaindrava again spoke in favor of the soonest meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity on a wide scale.
In his words, "until the Zhvania-Kokoity meeting with the presence of public takes place, and [until] they confirm their positions on the peacekeeping process, it will be hard to hope for fulfillment of agreements." Mr. Khaindrava did not specify when this meeting will take place.
Roy Reeve, the head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia, and Georgian DefenseMinister Georgy Baramidze took part in the meeting too.
South Ossetian authorities opened the highway via Tskhinvali.
Agreement to this effect was reached as a result of two-hour talks of Alexander Sukhitashvili, the chief of the Shida Kartli regional police, with South Ossetian law enforcers.
This road that links Georgia with the Georgian villages of the Tskhinvali region was closed by the decision of the unrecognized republic's leadership.
"In line with the agreement reached, patrol police cars of the Georgian Interior Ministry will move along the highway from the Georgian village of Tamarasheni and Kekhvi, while the section Tamarasheni-Ergneti via Tskhinvali will be used by Tskhinvali police cars," Mr. Sukhitashvili said.
He said the closing of the highway via Tskhinvali practically cut the Georgian villages from the rest of Georgia and created problems in ensuring their security. This made Georgian authorities build a bypassing road.
