Georgian MP to Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly: occupied Georgia feels Ukraine’s predicament most vividly
The Georgian delegation member said the invasion undermined European security and rules-based international order, and stressed the political and humanitarian assistance provided to Ukraine by Georgia since the outbreak of the hostilities.Photo: Parliament of Georgia.
Tweet 
Share
Georgia can relate most vividly to the predicament of Ukraine through the ongoing occupation of its own regions by Russia, Givi Mikanadze, a member of the Georgian parliamentary delegation, told the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Wednesday.
Mikanadze pointed to the occupation of 20 percent of the Georgian territory by Russian forces since the 2008 war between the two countries in drawing parallels with the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February.
The Georgian delegation member said the invasion undermined European security and rules-based international order, and stressed the political and humanitarian assistance provided to Ukraine by Georgia since the outbreak of the hostilities.
"From the very first day of the Russian military aggression in Ukraine, Georgia has strongly supported Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, which is reflected in both political and humanitarian assistance," the Georgian MP said.
Mikanadze called on his European counterparts to show “strong support” for ensuring Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and internationally recognised borders in the wake of the Russian invasion.
Russia’s war against Ukraine must be stopped, with Europe ensuring “such horror and aggression” never repeats “in our common home”, Irakli Chikovani, MP from the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party said on Wednesday.
The de facto authorities of Abkhazia have “once again” undermined the principle of the territorial integrity of Georgia, forcing this region further into isolation to the detriment of the local population, Leendert Verbeek, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CoE) said in response to the so-called “parliamentary elections” held in Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region on Saturday.
Russia has once again proved its plans for “factual annexation” of the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions of Georgia, Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Tuesday.
The current situation with human rights in Georgia and the Russian-occupied regions, as well as matters of ongoing reforms and questions of media freedom and pluralism were on the agenda for a meeting between Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili and Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, on Tuesday.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Friday welcomed the “continuous and marked progress” made by Georgia in honouring its Council of Europe membership obligations and commitments since 2014, but added a number of shortcomings and concerns remained.