On May 14, at the Chancellery of the Government of Georgia, the Prime Minister of Georgia Zurab Noghaideli made a statement on the current situation in Tskhinvali region: "First of all, on behalf of the President of Georgia and the Georgian government I would like to state that we are devoted to the principles of peaceful resolution of the conflict existing in the said region. The decisions on the future of the region can only be taken by the entire population of the region and not only by a group represented by Kokoiti. These are the principles which have been very clearly formulated by the government of Georgia and we stand committed to those principles.
Meanwhile, rather serious changes can be traced in this region. First of all I mean more intensive dialogue rather than the one that we have had with different representatives of the population before. In this I imply Dimitri Sanakoev and the people which he is representing. We stand ready for the dialogue with everyone, yet it's so natural that the dialogue will be launched only with those who are ready for a realistic discourse. I would also like to mention the unprecedented political support that the mentioned principle has gained among the political circles of Georgia. The issues that cause different approaches on behalf of various political groups often emerge in our country, but I'm very pleased to state that this particular issue has gained complete support of the whole political spectrum. I would also like to emphasize a number of events that have taken place during last few days: since Kokoiti started blocking the Georgian villages and opened gunfire in the direction of our positions, responsibility for the aggravated situation will be completely laid on Kokoiti. We've already experienced the effect of violence and therefore we aren't going to embark on that road again. In such a situation the position of the world community has to be more active, particularly that of Russia, which will prevent escalation of the current situation".
Press Office of the Government of Georgia