Tskhinvali could be cooperative with EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) if it stops being biased in favor of Tbilisi and if head of mission, German diplomat Hansjörg Haber, is replaced, an official from breakaway South Ossetia said on August 10.

"Their [EU monitors'] mission is to cover-up and hide from the international community all the crimes being committed by the Georgian law enforcement agencies," Boris Chochiev, a special envoy for post-conflict resolution issues in breakaway South Ossetia said on August 10.

He also said that although Tskhinvali had in the past provided EUMM with "facts" about "violations and provocations" by the Georgian side, the mission "never confirmed" them. He said that EUMM had turned into part of the Georgian security services.

"If EU is interested in South Ossetia having confidence towards its monitors and South Ossetia having cooperation with them, their stance towards South Ossetia should be completely changed and its head replaced," Chochiev said.

His comments were posted on a website of the breakaway region's authorities in which Chochiev was responding to some of the remarks made by EUMM head, Hansjörg Haber, in his article published by Civil.ge on August 6.

Haber writes that "de facto authorities’ denial of access to South Ossetia and Abkhazia has been hampering the mission’s normalization and stabilization efforts" - two of four key components of EUMM's mandate.

Chochiev agreed with Haber's assessment that situations in the areas adjacent to the administrative boundary lines "largely stabilized", but said it had happened not because of EUMM's efforts, but because "the Georgian authorities and people started to understand that South Ossetia is a separate state". "Although they do not speak about it," he added.