Georgia Condemns Russia’s Stance over South Ossetia

The Foreign Ministry of Georgia issued a statement on June 2 expressing concern over Moscow’s stance on the recent developments in Georgia’s breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The statement is in response to the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statements issued on May 31 and June 1, which accuse Tbilisi of escalating tensions in the region. Moscow claims that Tbilisi wanted to trigger tensions in South Ossetia by sending troops into the region under the pretext of fighting smuggling.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs in Georgia considers these statements as the “inadmissible casting of doubts over smuggling practices existing in the Tskhinvali region by describing the Georgian government’s efforts to combat smuggling as ‘a provocation’ .”

Earlier in the day, the Georgian Prime Minister, Zurab Zhvania, slammed a statement issued on June 1 by the Russian Foreign Ministry concerning the situation in the breakaway region and ordered the Georgian Foreign Ministry to respond to it with a “strict statement.”

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