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.