PM Kvirikashvili: “Illegal elections and referendum in occupied regions of Georgia have no legal power”

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili says that any so-called elections or referendum in the occupied territories of Georgia are illegal and cannot have any legal effect.

Kvirikashvili released a statement regarding the so-called presidential elections and referendum on changing the name for Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Tskhinvali (also known as South Ossetia) that are being held in the breakaway region today.

The statement read that it is very important that the international community as well as individual states have already made statements condemning the illegal elections and referendum and supporting the territorial integrity and soveregnity of Georgia.

"We consider holding the so-called referendum on changing the name of one of the oldest Georgian regions into the name that is similar to one of the federal subjects of the Russian Federation as an effort of laying the ground for its illegal annexation”, Kvirikashvili said.

"Sadly, by such provocative actions, the Russian Federation intentionally impedes the efforts of peaceful conflict resolution and hinders the confidence building between the communities divided by occupation lines”, it added.

Kvirikashvili said that Georgians and Ossetians share a homeland and he believes that the two nations will find ways how to reunited and build Georgia together.