SOUTH OSSETIA REJECTS GEORGIAN PLAN.

Leaders of South Ossetia, an ethnic region in northern Georgia, have rejected President Eduard Shevardnadze’s plans to include their territory within a new, federal Georgian state, Segodnya reported June 17. The South Ossetians still want either to be part of Russia or to be totally independent, the paper said. The South Ossetian position sets up yet another ethnic conflict in the Caucasus, one that represents an even more intractable challenge to borders in the region than has Chechnya, especially since Moscow has typically backed the South Ossetians in their claims against Tbilisi.

Progress at the Minsk Talks?