Tbilisi says Moscow’s position on situation in occupied regions is “cynical”
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimer Konstantinidi said that amid the existing "humanitarian crisis" in occupied regions, it is "cynical" from Russia to speak of ‘the "statehood" of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Georgian Foreign Ministry has called the recent statements of the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on the situation in occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions “cynical”.
Zakharova said at the recent news briefing that “Abkhazia and South Ossetia, relying on Russia’s allied assistance, which guaranteed their security, are consolidating their statehood”.
She also said that “while dealing with the remaining problems” both regions are “successfully developing their economy, social sphere, foreign trade and international relations”.
In general, over the past few years, both Abkhazia and South Ossetia, seriously affected by the Georgian aggression and economic blockade, have certainly established themselves as sovereign independent states”, Zakharova stated.
She further noted that if the western partners “want to understand the real situation” in those regions, they can simply visit them.
I would like to tell everyone that, despite the large number of publications with true disinformation, you can and even should visit Abkhazia and South Ossetia, if you want to understand what is happening there”, she said.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova held a news briefing on September 12. Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry press office
Maria Zakharova voiced accusations against the west as well.
She said the United States continues “to make unfounded accusations against Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia with remarkable persistence” and “instead of helping to ensure peace and security in the South Caucasus, they are actually doing the opposite and destabilising the region”.
We can see how Georgia is being flooded with arms and drawn into military blocs, with Washington and Brussels justifying this with considerations of ‘stability’ of the country and the region and a mythical threat of the Russian occupation”, Zakharova stated.
Georgian Foreign Ministry official Vladimer Konstantinidi said in Zakharova’s response that Georgia’s EU and NATO integration is one of the key foreign and security policy priorities and “a value-based choice of the Georgian people to return to their European family”.
????????’s EU&Euro-Atlantic integration course is value-based choice of t/ ???????? people & is by no means directed against anyone – especially against our Abkhazian & Ossetia fellow citizens.Joining the EU and NATO is the guarantee of peace and development for ???????? https://t.co/Gx8rriLWIZ
— MFA of Georgia (@MFAgovge) September 13, 2019
Konstantinidi further noted that “joining the EU and NATO is the guarantee of peace and development for Georgia, as well as for the entire region” and is not at all directed against anyone - especially “Abkhazian and Ossetian fellow citizens”.
Georgia continues unwaveringly to pursue the peaceful conflict resolution policy… We are constructively engaging in the formats of peace negotiations and spare no efforts to solve security and humanitarian problems of the conflict-affected population”, he added.
Konstantinidi also said that amid the existing "humanitarian crisis," in Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, it is "cynical to speak of ‘the 'statehood’ of the occupied territories". He said Zakharova's statements only aim at "diverting attention from the current grave situation to some other dimensions, at covering up illegal occupation and ethnic cleansing".
"It is of our deepest concern that the so-called crossing points along the occupation line with the Tskhinvali region have been closed, which results in the total isolation of the population residing in the occupied territories and creates a threat of a humanitarian crisis on the ground,” Georgian Foreign Ministry stated.
88-year-old Georgian man Data Vanishvili, whose house and agricultural lands are divided in two by occupying forces, has asked advice from NATO PA President Madeleine Moon, who has visited the occupation line in the village of Khurvaleti earlier today.
The Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a recent news briefing that on the eleventh anniversary of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, “Georgian and Western media and politicians are again trying to play the ‘borderisation’ card”.
The United States “will not stop working until Russia ends its occupation of sovereign Georgian territory”, the US Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said at a news briefing last night.