South Ossetian authorities invite Georgians who left the republic in 2008 back

The authorities of South Ossetian have declared their readiness to return, under supervision of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), the Georgians, who left the Leningor Region (South Ossetia) during the war in August 2008 and now live in Georgia, to their former homes.

The statement, made today by the South-Ossetian delegation at the Geneva discussions on security in Transcaucasia, asserts that ethnic Georgians-residents of the Leningor Region (in Georgia it is called the Akhalgori Region) left their homes by "yielding to propaganda and threats of Georgian authorities," although there were no combat actions in the region. Now these refugees are settled in the settlement of Tserovani (Georgia).

The statement stressed that the homes and property of the Georgian-language citizens of the Leningor Region, who left for Georgia, have been kept safe. It is also asserted that all the social infrastructures, including educational ones, in the Georgian language, have been preserved, the RIA "Novosti" reports.

The reaction of the Georgian party to the statement of the South Ossetian delegation is still unknown.