STATEMENT OF THE STATE DUMA OF THE FEDERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION On Bringing of the Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to the Territory of the South Ossetia

June 2, 2004.

The State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation perceived with deep concern the information of news agencies On Bringing of the special units and troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict on May 31, 2004. In the opinion of the deputies of the State Duma, this action was sanctioned by the Georgian top political leadership and can be viewed as nothing else but the demonstration of force. Such actions cause extreme destabilization of the situation regarding the South Ossetia and goes against the obligations, taken by Georgia within its activities in the Joint Control Commission. By these acts there is created a doubt about the sincerity of the assurances of the Georgian leadership on its intention to settle the problems of the South Ossetia and Abkhazia by peaceful means.

The deputies of the State Duma support the efforts of Georgia in the fight against Tran frontier crimes but at the same time they consider that the necessity of such fight cannot serve as justification of actions, pending to complicate the tense situation and creating full loss of confidence between the sides, achieved as a result of multi-year and hard political and diplomatic work.

The explosive situation, created at the immediate distance from the state border of the Russian Federation causes special concern of the deputies of the State Duma also because of the fact that it poses danger to the considerable number of the citizens of the Russian Federation, residing on the territory of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. The deputies of the State Duma believe that the Russian Federation is entitled and obliged to take all the necessary measures, in compliance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Charter of the UN, to protect their lives, health and property.

The deputies of the State Duma express hope that the leadership of Georgia, in their future actions will realize that it is possible to create irreversible consequences of escalation of the situation about the South Ossetia and Abkhazia and they will demonstrate wisdom and patience, characteristic of the peoples of the Caucasus, in the pursuit of the peaceful ways of the conflict settlement.

(www.duma.ru)