Syria to lose US funding for recognising occupied territories of Georgia
The reason behind the ban is a US legislative act adopted on May 2017. Photo: Associated Press
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The US state department has included Syria in a list of countries that recognise the independence of occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, therefore Syria will no longer be eligible to receive US funding, an official statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia says.
The reason behind the ban is a US legislative act adopted on May 2017, which supports Georgia’s territorial integrity.
No country can receive funding from the United States if it recognises the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia occupied by Russia, or establishes diplomatic ties with them independently of Georgia, says the document.
Syria announced its decision to establish diplomatic relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia in May 2018.
The MFA statement says this is a clear message to the world community that territorial integrity and sovereignty is one of the main fundamental norms of international law and should be respected by all.
The same sanctions were imposed against Nauru in the current year and against Venezuela in 2017.
"In terms of the news [as to] why Syria has now recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia, this isn’t a complete surprise to us simply because Bashar al-Assad is propped up by the Russian regime”, the spokesperson of the US State Department Heather Nauert said during a press briefing on May 29.
Georgia has already started procedures to break off diplomatic relations with the Syrian Arab Republic. The decision came after Syria officially recognised the independence of the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Syria has released an official statement regarding the recognition of occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions.
US congressman Francis Rooney has submitted a resolution to the US Congress which condemns the recognition of Georgian occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent regions by Syria in May this year.
US Congressman Francis Rooney has presented a draft bill to the US Congress which condemns last year’s recognition of independence of the two occupied regions of Georgia Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) by Syria.The draft cites Georgia as “one of the US’ most reliable allies in Eurasia” and urges the US government and its partners to take active steps suspend the Russian invasion in its neighboring states.
The Georgian occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region has plans to open a so-called embassy in Damascus Syria, after the latter became the fifth worldwide to recognise Tskhinvali as an independent state in May 2018.
Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region will open an embassy in Syria on October 6, the de facto leadership of the occupied region has reported.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry has condemned the opening of a so-called embassy of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region in Damascus, Syria today, stating that both the recognition of Georgia’s occupied regions as independent states by Syria and the opening of the ‘embassy’ took place because of Russian pressure.