South Ossetia refuses to accept Russian humanitarian aid from Georgians

South Ossetia (a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia) is refusing to accept Russian humanitarian aid from Georgian representatives.

The Georgian TV company Rustavi-2 reported on Thursday that Tskhinvali had said it did not need the cargo from Russia, "which was given customs clearance by Mikhail Saakashvili and distributed by Mikhail Kareli, plenipotentiary of the Georgian president to the Shida Kartli district neighbouring South Ossetia."

On Thursday, Svyatoslav Nabzdorov, commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone, and Mikhail Kareli told reporters that the convoy of vehicles with flour sent to the Ossetian population and detained by Georgian law-enforcers near the Ergneti settlement on July 13 was allowed to reach the addressee.

According to Kareli, "customs clearance of the cargo on the initiative of Mikhail Saakashvili was financed by the Georgian president's fund."

One of the Georgian people who accompanied the convoy told journalists, "the Ossetian side had the impression that Mikhail Kareli was going to distribute the humanitarian cargo himself. It is not so. Kareli only instructed us to take the cargo to the Tsinagara settlement and make sure that there was nothing but flour in it during the unloading."

Irina Gagloyeva, chairman of the information and press committee of the self-proclaimed South Ossetian republic, the Georgian authorities allowed to deliver the Russian humanitarian cargo to Ossetian settlements, provided humanitarian aid from the Georgian authorities is delivered there too.

Moreover, the convoy is to be accompanied by representatives of the Georgian Shida Kartli district.

The Ossetian population is refusing to accept assistance, in which official Georgian authorities participate to any extent.