Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin said Thursday that Russia, Georgia and its separatist province of South Ossetia had signed an agreement on ending the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.

"The protocol is signed," Loshchinin was quoted by Interfax news agency as telling a press conference.

"The negotiations were very successful," he noted.

Loshchinin said all sides agreed on the necessity to prevent an armed conflict.

An agreement on free transportation of humanitarian aid into the conflict zone has also been reached, Loshchinin said.

In addition, the participants of the meeting agreed to continue the joint control commission's work on a regular basis, Loshchinin said.

Officials from Russia, Georgia and South Ossetia started their two-day meeting on Wednesday as a part of a joint control commission working for easing the mounting tensions between the Georgian central authorities and its separatist region.

Georgian State Minister on Separatist Conflicts Georgi Khaindrava expressed satisfaction with the fact that the sides "understood that they cannot allow the tension in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone to escalate."

"The people would not have forgiven that," Khaindrava said.

Valery Yevnevich, Russian army's deputy chief for peacekeeping operations, told reporters following the meeting that the parties voiced their determination not to use force for settling the conflict.

"The parties confirmed their intention to strictly follow the principle of a peaceful settlement of the conflict and emphasized that the use of force, or economic, or other forms of pressure is unacceptable," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

South Ossetia won de-facto independence from Georgia following a bloody war that ended in 1992. It has repeatedly refused to bow to the Georgian central authority and sought to become part of neighboring Russia.

A joint peacekeeping contingent, composed of Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian troops, has been patrolling a Georgian-Ossetian conflict area since then.

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to reunify the country by bringing South Ossetia and another rebel region Abkhazia back under control.

Georgia accuses Russia of aiding South Ossetian separatists but Russia insists that it respects Georgia's territorial integrity and does not support the attempt of South Ossetia, whose independence has not been internationally recognized.