Moscow has suggested holding an urgent meeting of co-chairmen of the Joint Control Commission to discuss the worsening situation in the South Ossetia region.

Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister, Valery Loshchinin, says Russian high-ranking officials are leaving for Tbilisi to deal with the worsening situation.

Loshchinin says the situation in South Ossetia is deteriorating by the hour and warned the consequences could be catastrophic.

He says the agreements on the withdrawal of illegal armed units from the conflict zone, coordinated within the framework of the Joint Control Commission, should be put into effect.

Three people have been killed and several others wounded in an overnight shelling in Georgia's separatist region of South Ossetia.

Tension has been high between Tbilisi and South Ossetia since late May over the status of the breakaway region.

(CRI August 13, 2004)