TSKHINVAL, Georgia, November 20 (AVN) - The operational-and-search group formed for combating crime in the Georgia-Ossetia conflict zone will hold its first meeting in Tskhinval, capital of Southern Ossetia, on Wednesday, Yevgeny Churayev, mixed peacekeeping troops commander in the area, told the Military News Agency.
The meeting will take place in the peacekeeping battalion headquarters, Churayev said. The group consists of three Georgian and three Southern Ossetian representatives who have the power to detain suspected criminals and hand them over to investigators.
"The group was formed on the initiative of Russian peacekeepers and will work in close contact with the mixed peacekeeping troops commandment in the conflict zone. That is the most important step towards improvement of the situation in this area and beefing up crime-curbing," Churayev went on.
The protocol "Concerning Law-Enforcement Agencies Activities in Combating Crimes in the Georgia-Ossetia Conflict Area" signed by the two conflicting parties on November 17 became first legal basis for the group's work.
The mixed peacekeeping troops were deployed in the conflict area in the summer of 1992. They consist of Russian, Georgian and Ossetian peacekeeping battalions.