MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - South Ossetia and North Ossetia will eventually unite within Russia's borders, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity told a Monday news conference in Moscow.
"South Ossetia will inevitably unite with North Ossetia and become a part of Russia in the future, because 97% of South Ossetian residents are Russian citizens," he said.
Kokoity accused the Georgian administration of thwarting the regional settlement negotiations. "The negotiations are in deadlock. The Georgian side is doing its best to thwart the negotiations, but this will lead nowhere," he said.
The recent presidential elections and referendum in South Ossetia confirmed the people's choice of a peaceful settlement, he said. "Georgia must be convinced to drop the idea of changing the format of the negotiations. The format must be strengthened and broadened, and mutually acceptable solutions must be found," he said.
Russia is the main guarantor of regional peace and stability, while Russian peacekeepers "maintain stability, no matter how hard it may be for them at times," Kokoity said.
"Yet the Russian peacekeepers are another target of certain international officers, while the South Ossetian administration is their primary target," he said.
Kokoity objected to changing the format of the regional peacekeeping operation. "If the peacekeeping operations we are offered are as efficient as they are in Afghanistan or Iraq, we do not need them," he said.