Georgian defence minister vows “strictest reaction” to Belarus president’s visit to occupied Abkhazia
Georgian defence minister Juansher Burchuladze on Wednesday condemned the recent visit of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region. Photo: defence ministry press office
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Georgian defence minister Juansher Burchuladze on Wednesday said Tbilisi would have “the strictest reaction” to the recent visit of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, where he met with de facto authorities to discuss “prospects for bilateral cooperation”.
In his interview for Post TV, Burchuladze said Lukashenko’s first ever visit to the occupied territory “will not help relations between Tbilisi and Minsk”.
We will have the strictest reaction to the visit, especially if any country decides to take a drastic step”, the minister said in an apparent reference to possible attempts of recognising independence of the occupied region. The minister also urged leaders of foreign countries to refrain from taking steps that would “cost much” for their country or would be “impossible to correct in the future”.
❗️????????'s Foreign Ministry condemns the "visit" of Aleksandr Lukashenko to Georgia's #Abkhazia region, occupied by the Russian Federation.
— MFA of Georgia (@MFAgovge) September 28, 2022
Full Statement ➡️ https://t.co/REczMJCz8N
Lukashenko’s visit to the resort town of Bichvinta on Wednesday was instantly condemned by Georgia’s foreign ministry, minister Ilia Darchiashvili and prime minister Irakli Garibashvili, with the foreign office summoning Anatoly Lis, the ambassador of Belarus to Georgia, to demand “additional clarifications” from the Belarusian side on the development.
I strongly condemn Aleksandr Lukashenko’s “visit” to Abkhazia region of ???????? occupied by ???????? and meetings with the Russian occupation regime. This step violates ????????’s law on occupied territories & contradicts with int’l law as well as bilateral relations between our countries.
— Irakli Garibashvili (@GharibashviliGe) September 28, 2022
Foreign officials and diplomats, including from the United States and United Kingdom, on Wednesday also strongly condemned Lukashenko’s move, which came on the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and reports that individuals from Abkhazia could be conscripted to fight in Ukraine as part of Russia’s partial military mobilisation that was announced last week.
Russia recognised the independence of Georgia’s occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions in August 2008, following the Russia-Georgia war that month. Only four other countries – Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria – have since shared Russia’s position regarding the occupied Georgian territories’ status, with the rest of the international community maintaining that the regions are parts of Georgia under Russian occupation.
Foreign officials and diplomats on Wednesday strongly condemned the visit of Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, to Georgia's Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia and expressed their support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Ned Price, the United States state department spokesperson, on Wednesday said the US remained “steadfast” in its support for Georgia and for its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders and called on Russia to reverse its recognition of the occupied territories.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Wednesday “strongly” condemned Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s “visit” to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region and his meeting with the representatives of the occupation regime in the region's capital city of Sokhumi.
Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili on Wednesday “strongly” condemned her Belarusian counterpart Aleksandr Lukashenko’s visit to Georgia's Russian-occupied Abkhazia region.
The Georgian foreign ministry on Wednesday expressed its “deep concern” over the visit of Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus to Georgia's Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia and his meeting with the representatives of the occupation regime in the region's capital city of Sokhumi.
Irakli Chikovani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the visit of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko to Georgia’s Russian-occupied region of Abkhazia on Wednesday had pushed relations with Belarus to a “red line”.
Georgian foreign minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Thursday said the foreign ministry had taken “all the relevant” diplomatic steps regarding the visit of Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region in September.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Thursday said the visit of a delegation of the parliamentary assembly of Belarus and Russia to Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region was “disturbing”.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the meeting between Aslan Bzhania, the representative of the occupation regime of Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.