U.S. Responds to Russia’s Criticism over Abkhaz Official’s Visa

U.S. State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said on April 10 that the United States had not refused to issue an entry visa to Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba. Shamba, he said, had applied for a visa, but then had withdrawn his application.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitali Churkin had earlier protested the U.S. Embassy’s apparent refusal to grant an entry visa to Sergey Shamba, claiming that the decision had deprived the Abkhaz official of an opportunity to participate in a UN Security Council discussion  on a new resolution on Abkhazia on April 10.

“It is our hope that following passage in the coming days of a resolution extending the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia, we would see sufficient progress toward an Abkhazian settlement to merit a Geneva-style discussion of Abkhazia in New York, which is apparently the reason why he was intending to travel to New York. So essentially, you have to solve a process issue in order – in our view – to merit his travel to the United States,” Spokesman Sean McCormack said at a news briefing in Washington.

The Russian side, however, has stressed that any meeting after the adoption of a resolution would be pointless.

Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin described the closed session of the UN Security Council as “a good, constructive discussion,” adding that progress had been made in the implementation of the previous UN resolution on Abkhazia.

“However, the resolution has not been implemented, as a whole and we want this to be reflected in the new resolution,” RIA Novosti news agency quoted Churkin as saying.

He said debate was still ongoing over the actual text of the resolution, which is planned to be adopted on April 13. However, all members have agreed to prolong the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) for another six months.

The Russian envoy also rejected Tbilisi’s demand for the replacement of Russian peacekeepers with UN peacekeepers.

“The current [peacekeeping] format should be preserved. Reducing the number of Russian peacekeepers is beyond discussion,” Churkin said.

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