The Russian Foreign Ministry has released a statement on the 49th round of the Geneva international negotiations.

“The focus was on tensions near the village of Tsnelisi in the Georgian-South Ossetian border region, provoked by Tbilisi’s decision to relocate the police post directly along the village at the end of August. This prompted Tskhinvali to take retaliatory measures, including by opening its own checkpoint and temporarily blocking the border with Georgia. We have informed the parties about our approach to regulate the situation. We called on the parties to show restraint as well as to take steps to de-escalate the situation by using a direct dialogue format within the framework of existing negotiation mechanisms. Such a position was supported by the participants of the Geneva talks,” reads the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The statement notes about Georgia-NATO relations.

“We focused on Georgia’s continued efforts to join NATO, continued militarization of the South Caucasus country, regular military exercises of North Atlantic Alliance on this territory. Together with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, we assess this as a process undermining regional security” the statement reads.

The next round of Geneva negotiations will be held on December 10-11.