Georgian Foreign Ministry: We are concerned by Russia’s destructive actions

The Georgian Foreign Ministry released a statement today, expressing concern over the  destructive actions of Russia that “seriously undermine” not only local meetings on conflict issues, but also the Geneva International Discussions.

The statement came after the International Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting in the Ergneti village of the Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region on September 14, when Tskhinvali de facto government representatives quit the meeting in protest.

The reason behind the protest was the demand of the de facto leadership for the central Georgian government not to raise the issue of Georgian citizens killed on the occupied territory.

Representatives from the central government of Georgia dismissed the demand.

Lately, Tbilisi has been continuously raising the issue [of Russia’s destructive actions during the meetings] with partner countries and international organisations at the high level meetings.

The international community is unanimous in its assessment that damaging the negotiation formats will further aggravate the already severe security and humanitarian conditions on the ground,” Georgian Foreign Ministry says.

The Foreign Ministry called upon Russia to demonstrate a responsible approach and return to the working process of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism in order to avoid further destabilisation of the situation on the ground.

The Foreign Ministry has also appealed to the international community to intensify efforts to ensure the unimpeded work of the IPRM in full respect of the founding principles and ground rules of the negotiation format.