Georgia’s aggressive policy, which has escalated tensions in breakaway South Ossetia, aims at destabilizing the situation in the region, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on July 14.

The matter, it said, was discussed during a meeting between Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity in Moscow on July 11.

“Sergey Lavrov and Eduard Kokoity share the opinion that security and stability in the conflict zone can only be assured if there is an immediate resumption of dialogue between the conflicting sides in the frames of the existing negotiating format,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “They [Lavrov and Kokoity] have called on the Georgian side to stop attempts aimed at undermining the Joint Control Commission (JCC) and replacing it with a new one.”

Tbilisi announced in early March that it would no longer participate in the Russian-dominated negotiating body. The JCC involves negotiators from the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides.

Tbilisi has instead proposed to replace the JCC with a new negotiating body based on a 2+2+2 formula. The North Ossetian side, according to this proposal, would be replaced by the Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, and the OSCE and EU would also be included.

Russia has proposed to hold a JCC session in late July in Moscow and the South Ossetian side has said it is ready to host a session in Tskhinvali; Tbilisi, however, has declined both invitations.