The Russian foreign minister said Russia is concerned over the escalation of violence in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia and urged Georgia to sign a ceasefire deal with its breakaway regions, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Friday.
"We ... want the international community to take urgent steps in both conflicts with South Ossetia and Abkhazia to persuade Tbilisi to sign a ceasefire agreement," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying.
Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Georgia's actions to attack South Ossetia are an "open aggression."
"Moscow believes it is unacceptable when Tbilisi tries to create an illusion of progress on the Abkhaz front and simultaneously commits undisguised acts of aggression against South Ossetia. Such tactics could reduce to zero the prospect of settling both conflicts," the ministry said.
According to confirmed reports, an alleged Georgian attack on South Ossetia's capital of Tskhinvali left one dead and three injured late last night, Igor Alborov, a deputy defense and emergencies minister in the breakaway republic said.
South Ossetia declared its independence from Georgia following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. A joint commission co-chaired by officials from Russia, Georgia, and North and South Ossetias has been involved in conflict resolution negotiations. However, Tbilisi has indicated that it doubts results can be achieved in the current format.
Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have drastically deteriorated since Russia's former president Vladimir Putin called for closer ties between Moscow and the breakaway republics in mid-April.
Source: Xinhua
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