A party calling for unification with Russia has won elections in the self-declared republic of South Ossetia. Yet the Kremlin is wary of further provoking the international community and South Ossetia is likely to remain in a state of limbo for a long time.

As Georgia prepares to enter in a new Association relationship with the EU, euroscepticism makes an appearance in an unlikely form ahead of poll. Joseph Alexander Smıth reports from Tbilisi for commonspace.eu.

On 6 June 1944, British, US and Canadian forces invaded the coast of northern France in Normandy leading to the defeat of fascism and nazism in Europe eleven months later.

Two Armenian soldiers have been killed on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan's Nakhcivan's Autonomous Republic. Armenian sources say that the two soldiers were killed by Azerbaijani sniper fire. The area was the scene of a similar incident earlier this week in which an Azerbaijani soldier died. The soldiers were 26 year old Andranik Yegoyan and twenty-two year old Boris Gasparyan. Despite cease fire that has been in place for the last twenty years daily incidents are resulting in increasing fatalities on both sides.

G7 Communique states that "Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea, and actions to de-stabilise eastern Ukraine are unacceptable and must stop."

Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, who is also current Chairman of the OSCE, had discussions with the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, and also met the leadership of the self-declared Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

An Azerbaijani soldier was killed on Tuesday as a result of violation of the cease fire by the Armenian side according to Azerbaijani military sources. The incident happened in the Nakhchivan sector of the border with Armenia. The victim was a 19 year old conscript from Terter Region, Zaur Hasanli. There is no comment on the incident yet by the Armenian side. Both sides in the conflict regularly accuse each other of violating the cease fire that has been in affect for twenty years.

The President of the Swiss Confederation and current head of the OSCE proposes the "start of structured negotiations leading to a peace agreement".

The Abkhaz President Alexander Ankvab has resigned after being removed from office by the Parliament of the self declared Republic. Ankvab declared the decision unconstitutional but said that he had agreed to resign for the sake of stability. The Chairman of the Abkhaz Parliament Valery Bganba has been appointed Interim President. Elections for a new President will be held on 24 August. In the meantime Russia has promised that it will continue to support Abkhazia militarily and financially.

The President of the Swiss Confederation and current Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE will focus on the unresolved conflicts and human rights concerns during his visit.