Georgian envoy: “New “border” signs aim to force us into demarcation talks”
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Georgian Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze has said that the only aim of erecting new border signs along the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) with breakaway Tskhinvali region is to force the Georgian side to start negotiations on the demarcation of the so-called border.
Abashidze said this is unacceptable and there is no chance Tbilisi will ever start talking about the demarcation of the "border”.
"There is no way we will begin negotiations with the de-facto dealership on this issue. We will do our best to stop this process through the pressure from the international society and our Western partners”, Abashidze said, adding that on a daily basis 80 percent of Georgia’s foreign policy is directed at solving this problem.
Last week Abashidze met with Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin in Prague after which he travelled to Brussels to meet with European Union (EU) representatives. He summed up these visits at a press conference today.
He said that EU authorities reconfirmed their support for Georgia’s policy towards Russia and said that maintaining a dialogue is important.
He added that the Prague meeting made it possible for Georgia and Russia to restore trade and some humanitarian relations, but, sadly, this progress has not been reflected in Russia’s policy towards the occupied territories of Georgia.
Abashidze said that in Brussels he discussed in detail the situation in the occupied area and the recent developments in the village of Bershueti where the occupants erected new so-called border signs earlier last week.
The Georgian Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze has summed up his recent meeting with the State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin.
The Georgian Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze and the State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin have met in Prague in what is the only format of direct Georgia-Russia dialogue.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has released a statement, saying that the recent reports about furthering the Administrative Boundary Line into the depths of Georgia in the Tskhinvali region is a provocation before the Russian and Georgian envoys meet in Prague today.
The European Union Monitoring Mission (EUMM) in Georgia has released a statement in connection with the recent illegal installation of a so-called border sign across the occupation line in the breakaway Tskhinvali region.
Georgian officials, representatives of international organisations and de-facto authorities from Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions have been sitting around the table for six hours in what they called "one of the most difficult talks” in Ergneti today.
Georgian Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze and State Secretary and Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Grigory Karasin have met in Prague in what is the only format of direct Georgia-Russia dialogue.
Georgian Envoy to Russia Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin have met in Prague, Czech Republic today to discuss trade-economic relations, as the format of the meetings is not meant to be political.