Georgian and Russian public discuss implications of Caucasian war

On December 18, the building of "Memorial" hosted a meeting of representatives of Georgian and Russian public held within a visit organized by the Public Chamber of Russia. The meeting discussed the ways to overcome the humanitarian catastrophe in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Mamuka Areshidze, member of the Georgian delegation and Director of the NGO "Centre of Strategic Studies of the Caucasus", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the meeting discussed the issues related to the situation in the conflict zone in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Among the top priority issues the participants named disappearances, humanitarian catastrophe and marauding. Also, they discussed the future cooperation format of Russian and Georgian NGOs. Under initiative of Maxim Shevchenko, the Public Chamber set up a mixed commission on humanitarian matters in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The meeting was also attended by People's Actor of Georgia Gogi Kavtaradze, actor, director, and world champion in arm-wrestling Soso Dzhachvliani; from the Russian party: representatives of the Society "Memorial" - Arseniy Roginskiy, Yan Rachinskiy, Oleg Orlov, Tatiana Kasatkina, Olga Cherepova, Alexander Cherkasov, and Liudmila Alekseeva (Moscow Helsinki Group), Varvara Pakhomenko and Alexander Mnatsakanyan ("Demos" Centre), Sergey Nikitin (Amnesty International), Tatiana Cooper (Human Rights Watch), and Gregory Shvedov ("Caucasian Knot"). The Public Chamber was represented by Maxim Shevchenko and Alexei Sitnikov.

According to Mr Areshidze, as a result of information exchange among public organizations, it was established that about 30 hostages are still kept by the Ossetian party, and 9 - by Georgians. Besides, the point was the situation in the Akhalgori District. "The situation there is very dangerous, especially after the snow fell down. The roads from South Ossetia to this area are actually inexistent. Certainly, local residents are allowed to go across the border to Tbilisi, but there's no centralized supply of this region with foodstuffs and medicines. Marauders are active there," said Mr Areshidze.

The discussion also touched on the situation in Perevi village, which is quitted and then occupied by Russian troops, which has provoked outflow of local population.

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