NSC chief of staff : The meeting with de facto representatives was constructive and we agreed on specific steps to de-escalate situation

The meeting between the Georgian side and the representatives of de-facto Tskhinvali and Russian occupation forces has ended. Kakhaber Kemoklidze, chief of staff of Georgia's National Security Council (NSC), said after the meeting that despite of different positions the overall pathos and purpose of the meeting served to completely de-escalate and defuse the situation.

“The meeting was held in a very constructive environment. This is unequivocally important step forward. The parties agreed that concrete steps should be taken to de-escalate the situation. The call was shared by actually all the representatives. In addition, another technical meeting will be held early next week, this time in the village of Ergneti. At this technical meeting we will reiterate the positions we have. Despite the different positions of the representatives of the central government and de facto Tskhinvali, the overall pathos and purpose of the meeting served to completely de-escalate and defuse the situation. This is a very big step in the right direction, which we will actually start doing as of today, ”Kemoklidze said.