Participants in Geneva consultations on South Caucasus will make on Tuesday yet another attempt to draw up a document providing non-aggression guarantees between Georgia and its former republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The Geneva talks on security in the South Caucasus were first held in October 2008, following a five-day war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia in August that year. The war began when Georgia attacked the republic in an attempt to bring it back under central control. As a result, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia.
Participants in the talks have so far failed to adopt a legally binding non-aggression treaty that would assure security in the region. They only worked out proposals concerning the prevention and settlement of conflicts between Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Delegations from Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Georgia, Russia and the United States participate in the Geneva meetings on an equal footing. Representatives of the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe also attend.
After the previous round of talks held in June, the delegations of South Ossetia and Abkhazia said the negotiations had come to a standstill. They threatened that they would withdraw from the talks if no progress was made. Tbilisi described the statement as an attempt to disrupt the talks.
In a sign of protest against the negotiators' reluctance to adopt the non-aggression treaty, Abkhaz delegation head Vyacheslav Chirikba will not take part in Tuesday's talks. He has threatened that the Abkhaz negotiators would miss the next round of talks if no draft project of the treaty is drawn up on Tuesday.
MOSCOW, July 27 (RIA Novosti)
