"This is about suspending peacekeeping operations in their current form, but by no means about closing the peace process altogether," the Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Georgy Haindrava said in an address to parliament.
Haindrava said the Joint Control Commission (JCC), set up in 1994 to monitor the Georgian-South Ossetian ceasefire, could be expanded to include representatives from other nations. The commission is presently comprised of officials from Russia, Georgia, South Ossetia and the Russian republic of North Ossetia, which all have peacekeeping contingents in the conflict zone.
The Georgian parliament's security and international relations committees are expected later on Monday to draft a resolution urging the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from South Ossetia. The resolution will be put to a vote on February 15.
The long-standing controversy over the Russian peacekeeping contingent flared up last week as Tbilisi threatened to deport three peacekeepers arrested in South Ossetia on charges of violating visa regulations and again accused Moscow of secretly arming the breakaway province, thus undermining Georgia's national security.
