TSKHINVALI. April 22 (Interfax) - The South Ossetian Foreign Ministry has said in a statement that reasons for violating the South-Ossetian-Georgian border provided by the recently detained OSCE military observers are "absolutely unconvincing."
"Regretfully, this is not the only incident when representatives of the OSCE mission to Georgia try to illegally and without any reason to mark their presence on the South Ossetian territory. Reasons which the border violators cite are absolution unconvincing. Certain circumstances and the frequency of such incidents can be treated as a proof for suspicions that employees of the OSCE mission to Georgia make intentional provocations," the statement issued on Wednesday reads.
According to earlier reports, OSCE military observers were detained on the South Ossetian territory a day earlier. "The detainees were escorted to Tskhinvali where they confessed to have illegally crossed the South-Ossetian-Georgian state border and explained the circumstances of the incident. After relevant warnings and explanations were given to them, they were expelled back to Georgia," the statement reads.
South Ossetia confirms its readiness to constructively cooperate with international organizations, including the OSCE, but "again points at the fact that there is a possibility for the OSCE to be legally present and fruitfully work in South Ossetia," the statement reads.