MOSCOW/TBILISI. Jan 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Tbilisi and Tskhinvali blame one another for not meeting the agreement on demilitarization in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, reached by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity in Sochi on November 5, 2004.
"We cleared out about a kilometer of trenches and foxholes and several other fortifications erected during the armed confrontation in summer 2004," Major General Anatoly Barankevich, defense minister of the breakaway South Ossetian republic, told Interfax-Military News Agency over the telephone from Tskhinvali Monday.
"All this happens within the background of Georgia's filling up mere 30 meters of trenches and pulling down one pillbox," he said.
"We also withdrew our military from the positions around Tskhinvali leaving them under control of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces. Unlike Georgians, we are willing to follow our obligations. Already this year the strength of the Armed Forces will be reduced twofold as a gesture of a good will," he added.
However, Georgian State Minister for Separatist Conflicts Giorgi Khaindrava told Interfax-AVN that despite South Ossetia's demilitarization statements, the breakaway republic still retains lots of weapons, including heavy vehicles and helicopters.
"We are accused of intending to attack them, but these accusations are merely aimed to camouflage their own plans. It is necessary to go on pulling down fortifications, and continue with the demilitarization as a whole. The process should be organized under strict supervision of OSCE observers," he said.