Tbilisi strongly condemns occupied Tskhinvali’s involvement in Russian parliamentary elections
Tbilisi says that Russia is taking steps to annex historic Georgian lands. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office.
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Tbilisi has strongly condemned the opening of about 20 polling stations in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region for the September 19 Duma elections of Russia, stating that the step is an ‘obvious example’ of annexation.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry says that Russia ‘once again violated the international law’ and urged the international community to give a ‘due response’ to the country’s illegal activities in Georgia.
The fact that the residents of Georgia’s Tskhinvali region are electing Russian MP for Voronezh, Leningrad, Samara Oblast and Transbaikal is clearly pointing at Russia’s annexation policy to the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali,” said the ministry.
According to preliminary reports more than 25,000 individuals participated in Russian elections from Georgian Tskhinvali and Abkhazia regions.
Georgia says that starting in the 2000s Russia forced locals of the occupied regions to receive Russian passports and that because of the occupation of the territories thousands of IDPs are unable to return to their homes.
The ministry says that the recent judgement of the European Court of Human Rights also shifted whole responsibility onto Russia for human rights violations in the regions, saying that ‘Russia is exercising effective control’ on Abkhazia and Tskhinvali.
The barbed-wire-fences erected by occupation forces in central Georgia. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Tbilisi also condemned an agreement signed between Russia and Tskhinvali ‘on dual citizenship’ yesterday which allows the residents of Tskhinvali to receive Russian citizenship without losing ‘South Ossetian’ citizenship.
Georgia has called on Russia to withdraw its forces from the country’s territory.
Russia recognised Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Since then only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have joined Russia in the recognition, while the rest of the international community call upon the country to leave the Georgian territory.
Georgian Prime Minister Minister Irakli Garibashvili has responded to the recent death of four individuals from the country’s Russian-occupied Gali district and stated that the ‘occupation regime will definitely be held accountable for all its illegal actions in Georgia.’
Rescuers have found a body of a fourth individual who was trying to cross onto territory controlled by the central government of Georgia from Russian-occupied Gali through the Enguri River. The body was found on the banks of the river Enguri, in the village of Orsantia of Zugdidi Municipality.
United States Acting Deputy Chief of Mission to the OSCE Elisabeth Rosenstock-Siller said in her address to the Permanent Council on Thursday that the US condemns the recent sentencing of Georgian citizen Zaza Gakheladze in Russian-occupied Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) region.
The de facto authorities of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region say that they detained 38 individuals last month for ‘illegally crossing the border’, while the figure stood at 19 in July. The de facto authorities stated that 22 of the 38 individuals were fined, while others were able to leave Tskhinvali territory without paying a fine.
The United States has condemned the opening of polling stations in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions for the September 19 Duma elections of Russia, Spokesperson of the US Department of State Ned Price has tweeted. The Georgian Foreign Ministry has also condemned the move, stating that Russia ‘once again violated the international law’ and urged the international community to give a ‘due response’ to the country’s illegal activities in Georgia.
The de facto foreign intelligence service head in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region, Aleksey Maksimov, has met with the Taliban co-founder and current vice-PM in the new caretaker government of Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar, to discuss ‘regional security and the security issues of the two countries,’ the Taliban’s spokesperson Mohammad Naeem has tweeted.