President Zurabishvili: we have not been able to support residents of occupied Tskhinvali during the coronavirus outbreak
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili also mentioned that with its “absurd” restrictions of access for Georgian authorities to aid citizens in the Tskhinvali region, Russia had created new risks in the occupied areas. Photo: 1TV.ge.
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In an interview with the Financial Times, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili stated that the Georgian government has not been able to give support to the residents of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region during the Covid-19 outbreak.
We have not been able to give all the support we could have given. On the contrary, the separatist authorities were more tense in their relations and more eager to control everything. On the Russian side we have not seen any evolution either: we haven’t seen much transparency there in terms of what is happening with the pandemic”, said Zurabishvili.
Zurabishvili also mentioned that with its “absurd” restrictions of access for Georgian authorities to aid citizens in the Tskhinvali region, Russia had created new risks in the occupied areas.
The Georgian Ministry for Reconciliation and Civil Equality states that the closure of the crossing points connecting the region with the rest of Georgia have already led to 14 deaths in Tskhinvali region due to the delayed medical aid.
On May 20, 2020, Jumber Miladze died while being transported to a hospital on Tbilisi-controlled territory from the Akhalgori district of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region. Miladze’s family members had tried several times to transfer him to Tbilisi-controlled territory, though initially they were several times refused by the de-facto regime of Tskhinvali to receive appropriate medical service.
The Russian-controlled Tskhinvali closed its last crossing point connecting the region with the rest of Georgia on February 27, 2020 ‘to prevent the spread of coronavirus’.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili encourages citizens to be more careful amid the recent coronavirus outbreak in the world, which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
President Salome Zurabishvili says that 'we might want to think about new steps to be taken and new positions to present with our partners or with Russia'. However, she states that these must not be the steps of concession or adoption to occupation. Delivering her annual speech at parliament earlier today, Zurabishvili said that any issue, which will not and should not be forcibly settled, ‘needs carriage, reason, advancement [through drawing red lines] and unity to be settled.’
The Russian-controlled Tskhinvali authorities have announced the closure of the last, Kartsmani crossing point in Sachkhere municipality, connecting the region with the rest of Georgia ‘to prevent the spread of coronavirus.’
Georgian Foreign Ministry says that Russia has been particularly active in its creeping annexation of more Georgian territories over the past two months and its (Russia’s) fight against the US-built Lugar Centre in Tbilisi has become intense.
In her remarks, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili said that for a small country like Georgia with an emerging economy, standing ‘at the door of Europe’, the coronavirus crisis ‘has taught us a number of important lessons’.
The de-facto government of the Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region of Georgia has confirmed four new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number to 42 in the region.
Georgia President Salome Zurabishvili made an online address to the UN General Assembly meeting yesterday, dedicated to the UN’s 75th anniversary, where she said that ‘Georgia is not ready to simply stand by the damages caused by occupation to human lives and to human rights’. She stated that the “UN we need is one that will inspire our citizens, create trust and bring effective leadership”.