STATEMENT On the Facts of Violation of The Management System of the JPKF in the Zone of the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict and the Measures to be Taken for Providing Efficient Functioning Thereof.

The joint forces of the JPKF established under the JCC for Georgian Ossetian conflict settlement, pursuant to the Agreement on principles of settlement of the Georgina-Ossetian conflict concluded on June 24, 1992, shall carry out their activities on the basis of the stated Agreement, as well as the Agreement on further development of the process of peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, and, Procedure on the JCC, and Procedure on main principles of activities of military contingents and groups of military observers. Acting in accordance with the states documents, the JPKF provided efficient keeping of peace and stability in the zone pf conflict, remaining up until the present moment, the most important factor of keeping peace and safe life.

The peacekeeping operation in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, by itself, represents a unique operation. For the first time in the world practice, subdivisions of the parties, that previously took part in the conflict, participated in it. The experience of the JCC of the tripartite forces for keeping peace in the zone of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, that did not admit any outburst of armed violence, and, at the same time, did not suffer any battle losses, permits us to speak about the impressive success of their operations and the capability to use the tested model in other places. At the same time, this experience shows that use of the JPKF in the peace-keeping operations may be possible only in the case where interests of all parties and openness are strictly observed in the process of making decisions by taking into account the realistic situation in the zone of conflict, as well as unconditioned fulfillment of all decisions made by the JCC and joint Headquarters members of the JPKF.

However, an unprecedented event took place on July 14, 2002, during the arrangements dedicated to the 1st anniversary of the Russian-Georgian Agreement on principles of peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict and starting the activities of peacemaking forces in the zone of the Georgina-Ossetian conflict, specifically the Georgian contingent did not comply with the order of the Commander of the JPKF acting on the basis of the decisions if the JCC dated May 16 and July 5, 2002, on participation of the Georgian battalion in the stated arrangements.

The Georgian side not only refused to comply with the requirements of the agreement concluded within the framework of the JCC, but also violated its international obligations, and, in fact, tried to take the responsibility on the direct management of the Georgian contingent of the JPKF through direct management of its activities in the peacemaking operations (omitting the JCC and joint Command) which was the violation of the provisions of the Sochi Treaty and other fundamental documents of the settlement process.

These activities should be regarded as discrediting the peacemaking operations and undermining confidence between the parties to the conflict, as well as a dangerous precedent of disobedience by one of the parts of the contingent to the order of the joint Command of the JPKF, which may cause derangement of not only the peacemaking process but also of the entire peaceful process and result in unpredictable consequences.

The JCC deems it necessary to assign the co-chairman of the Georgian side, together with the workgroup in charge of the issues of activities of the JPKF and the law-enforcement entities, to clarify the reasons of the above-noted fact of violation of the agreement of June 24, 1992 and make a respective decision on it and present it for consideration to the leadership of the parties that participate in the process of the conflict settlement.

The JCC call upon to the Georgian side to take necessary actions for rehabilitating the management system by the Georgian contingent of the JPKF in accordance with the fundamental documents of the process for the Georgian-Ossetian conflict settlement and don’t admit repetition of the above-noted facts in future.

On behalf of the South Ossetian side                              On behalf of the Georgian side

On behalf of the Russian Side                                       

On behalf of the North Ossetian side

In the presence of:

the OSCE Mission and

European Commission

July 30, 2002, Tskhinvali

(Archive of the Staff of the State Minister of Georgia for Conflict Resolution Issues/in Russian)