Negotiators held tenth round of Geneva talks on March 30 and agreed to meet for the next round of talks on June 8.

"Against the background of a relatively calm and stable general situation, it was noted that tensions continue to exist," co-mediators, Antti Turunen of the UN, Pierre Morel of the EU and Bolat Nurgaliyev, the special envoy of the Kazakh OSCE chairmanship, said in a joint statement.

"It was highlighted that provocative actions and rhetorics are not helpful for the ongoing efforts to stabilize the situation on the ground and should therefore be avoided," they said.

According to co-mediators, during the tenth round of talks the participants continued discussion on different draft proposals related to the non-use of force and international security arrangements.

The issue of missing and detained persons was also discussed. According to co-mediators the participants welcomed the ongoing contribution by Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg, who has mediated release of several Georgian and South Ossetian detainees and has also sent two experts to oversee investigations to find out whereabouts of those persons from the both side, who are missing since the August war; the focus is now made on three Ossetians missing since October, 2008.

"The participants also reviewed the issue of release of all detainees, and agreed that a solution leading to a release of all would be a further positive development," co-mediators said.

On March 29 and March 30 Tbilisi released six persons - four residents of breakaway South Ossetia and two Russian citizens from North Ossetia.