Georgian Parliament Committee Chair discusses Russian occupation at OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian Parliament, raised the subject of the Russian-occupied territories of the country at the 31st Parliamentary Assembly of the General Committee on Political Affairs and Security of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Bucharest on Sunday.

The Parliament press office said Samkharadze noted 20 percent of Georgia's territory remained occupied by Russia, with 300,000 citizens internally displaced.

He also emphasised some of the member states of the Assembly still did not use the term “occupation” when referring to the Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions of the country.

Negotiations through the Geneva International Discussions have been ongoing for years, including with the OSCE’s Co-Chairing, however the [normalisation] of the peace process still is not being achieved”, the Parliament official noted in reference to the discussion platform created to address outcomes of the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia that marked the start of the occupation of the regions.

Samkharadze also discussed the existing security environment in Georgia, challenges facing the country, and called on the international community for “more action” regarding the issues.