Georgia’s leaders don't recognise Crimea referendum

The President of Georgia is refusing to accept the Crimea referendum where early results show an overwhelming majority voted in support of the Crimea region becoming united with the Russian Federation.

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili expressed deep concern about controversial referendum held in Crimea yesterday and said he did not recognize it.

We are extremely concerned about the so-called referendum being held in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, which is linked to the region's future status. This kind of referendum is not accepted in Ukraine's constitution and it should not have legal consequences. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about free choice and free expression of the will of the people there, which is controlled by a foreign country, in particular, the Russian armed forces, read a statement by President Margvelashvili.

Georgia was "well aware” of what this and other similar action could mean, he said.

These kinds of referendums and elections have been implemented in the parts of Georgia’s territory – Abkhazia and South Ossetia - which are occupied by Russia. The Georgian Government does not recognize Crimea’s so-called referendum, and the international community does not recognize this illegal result of the referendum and supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Margvelashvili said.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s state Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Alexi Petriashvili said Russia had acted in a similar way before and had occupied Georgian territory and the international community should begin to take certain steps to alleviate the situation and punish Russia.

The show staged in Crimea is a part of [Russia’s] occupation policy, which will probably and unfortunately be mutually signed this week. It is fact there has been an attempt to capture territories and conquer a sovereign country in our friend and partner state Ukraine, Petriashvili said.

Despite leaders of the international community making very strong statements against the situation in Ukraine, including possibly imposing sanctions against Russia, it should begin to take concrete steps toward countries that aspire to integrate with the European Union (EU) and Euro-Atlantic region.

If we talk about Georgia, the EU should make a decision in a short time to open the European perspective for Georgia and Moldova. The second and most important part is to also develop a large-scale economic - financial aid package. The third issue is the visa liberalization process, which when implemented is very effective, but accelerating the process and avoiding bureaucracy would be a very important message for Georgia. It will be a signal to those who stand in the way of this people and their aspirations for the implementation of the road, Petriashvili added.

As for joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Minister believed decisions surrounding the most powerful military - political organisations should be made without hesitation in a very short time.

"Decreasing the time is something we would like to see agreed on through negotiation. When we see that happening, the occupation of a sovereign country, which is extremely important for a country like Georgia which aspires to join NATO, is able to take concrete steps," the Minister said.