PACE to hold behind-closed-doors hearings on RF-Georgia dossier

MOSCOW, January 17 (Itar-Tass) -- The Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe (PACE) will hold behind-closed-doors hearings on the
current situation of the Russian-Georgian war aftermath in Paris on
Monday. The European conference will discuss the future of the South
Ossetian war dossier in August 2008.
The hearings will be held in a format of an enlarged meeting of the
PACE Monitoring Committee, the deputy head of the Russian delegation in
PACE and the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee for
International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, told reporters. PACE President
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland,
EU Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, the head of the
European Union fact finding commission into the South Ossetian war Heidi
Tagliavini, representatives of Russia and Georgia and the branches of the
International Committee of the Red Cross are to participate in the
hearings.
The PACE hearings envisage three round-table meetings devoted to the
latest political events and the current situation in the conflict area,
the prospects for Russia and Georgia to overcome the war aftermath and the
fulfilment of the PACE resolutions, the long-term prospects for
negotiations and cooperation to eliminate the Russian-Georgian war
aftermath, Slutsky noted. These hearings will be "a real step on the way
out of the deadlock for PACE after the approval of the resolutions, which
are unattainable for Russia," he pointed out. Slutsky believes that the
hearings may raise again a separate PACE report as a probable solution to
the problem of the armed conflict in South Ossetia and may put the problem
under the monitoring of the countries concerned. "This would be logic
after Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini's speech at the PACE summer session,
where the latter put all the dots in the problem. Something new can hardly
be found," the Russian lawmaker noted.
He also emphasized that Russia intends to call for a broader
humanitarian cooperation in the South Caucasus. "The Council of Europe has
a vast experience in promoting the settlement of humanitarian problems,"
the deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee of International Affairs
said.
Meanwhile, several media reported that Georgian representatives had
already refused to participate in the PACE hearings in protest against a
probable end to the PACE debates of the war dossier. However, the PACE
press service told Itar-Tass that they cannot confirm the reports on the
boycott of the Georgian delegation. The PACE Secretariat has not received
the official refusal from Georgian deputies to participate in the
hearings, but it should be made clear by Monday morning, the PACE press
service reported.
The armed conflict in the South Caucasus has been on the PACE agenda
since 2008. PACE approved several resolutions on this problem with the
permanent demands to Russia to deny the recognition of the republics of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The Russian delegation stated that the PACE
decisions are unachievable that made Georgia raise the question of
stripping Russia of powers in Strasbourg. However, this move was voted
down.
At a spring session in Strasbourg the head of the European Union fact
finding commission in the South Ossetian war Heidi Tagliavini stated that
Georgia unleashed the war in South Ossetia and urged all parties to the
conflict to overcome the war aftermath in talks.
The PACE Monitoring Committee has already attempted to close the
Russian-Georgian dossier at the July session. Only one vote lacked for the
decision then.
-0-baz