MOSCOW. Sept 1 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian Armed Forces Chief- of-Staff Yury Baluyevsky said attempts to settle the Georgian- Ossetian conflict by using force are hopeless.
"It would be counter-productive to rely on the use of forces in tackling the conflict in South Ossetia," Baluyevsky told journalists in Moscow on Wednesday.
"There is a fragile peace in the region. Some may disagree with the 1992 decisions. But if they are ruined, no one knows what will happen," said Baluyevsky.
According to him, some Georgian leaders have already realized that opting for the use of force to solve the conflict would be a mistake, as it will only lead to a war.
He said the number of Russian peacekeepers cannot be increased. "Russia is observing its commitments, while Georgia, by rotating its troops, keeps their strength at a far higher level," he noted.
Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone are subordinate to the Joint Control Commission for conflict settlement, not to the Russian Defense Ministry, Baluyevsky stressed.
Baluyevsky attended the initiation ceremony for freshmen at the General Staff Academy on Wednesday. He read a lecture at the academy for the first time since his appointment as Armed Forces chief-of-staff.