Earlier Wednesday, Eduard Kokoity, the president of the unrecognized republic, said he proposed in a letter to his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili making 2007 a breakthrough year for conflict resolution, and that by February 1, 2007 South Ossetia would reduce its armed forces by 30% as an act of goodwill.
"As for Kokoity's statement on the 30% reduction of South Ossetia's armed formations by February 1, I must say that all their armed formations are illegal and they must lay down their weapons and be disbanded. That is what Georgia insists on," Merab Antadze, Georgia's state minister for conflict resolution, said.
Speaking at a press conference in Moscow Wednesday morning, Kokoity said that the authorities of the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia "have demonstrated their devotion to peace" and have made "goodwill gestures," including the reduction of Defense Ministry personnel by a third.
"However, by reducing our [military] personnel we are not disarming but reforming our Armed Forces so that they will be capable of defending our people and our territorial integrity," Kokoity said.
Antadze said Kokoity's press conference in Moscow was just another PR action on behalf of the South Ossetian leader.
South Ossetia, which separated from Georgia in the early 1990s following a series of violent clashes, held presidential elections and a referendum on secession from Georgia November 12. Incumbent President Kokoity won a landslide victory, and locals gave their resounding backing for independence.
Pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who swept into power on the back of the "Rose" revolution in 2003 and has vowed to bring the self-proclaimed republic back into the fold, accuses Russia of backing the region's separatists.
