Following talks in Tskhinvali on 24 June between Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valerii Loshchinin and Eduard Kokoity, president of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, it was announced that a session of the Joint Control Commission will take place on 30 June-1 July in Moscow, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported.

Sessions of the commission scheduled first for 15-16 June and then for 21-22 June were postponed after the South Ossetians refused to participate.

The commission comprises representatives from Russia, Georgia, and North and South Ossetia, and monitors the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone.

(RFE/RL 25.vi.04)