Georgia’s UN Envoy Slams Russia over Arming Breakaway Regions
Georgia’s representative to United Nations Revaz Adamia criticized Russia for, as he put it, arming secessionist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and described Moscow’s support to the “aggressive separatism” as “annexation” of Georgia’s territory.
Ambassador Adamia was speaking at the General Debate of the First Committee of 60th Session of the UN General Assembly on October 7.
“Both these regions are undergoing increasingly aggressive process of militarization. What is the most cynical, the separatist enclaves are receiving military shipments from our neighboring country, the Russian Federation… As a result, quite a substantial amount of arms and ammunition, which are not controlled by the state and consequently are not reflected in the records of the UN Register of Conventional Arms, have accumulated on these territories,” Adamia said.
The Georgian envoy recalled the September 20 celebration of ‘independence day’ by breakaway South Ossetia, when the secessionist authorities displayed at the military parade, according to Adamia: 3 self-propelled howitzers (2S1), 4 tanks (T-55), 4 armoured personnel carriers (BTR-70), 3 armoured combat vehicles (BMP-2), 3 120 mm mortars and 3 anti-aircraft guns ZU 23-2.
“We consider this as a violation of all peace agreements related to the conflict, as well as provisions and principles of CFE Treaty – a cornerstone of European security,” Revaz Adamia said.
He said that “separatist regimes,” backed by “Russian militaries and state institutions” give an opportunity to acquire arms and “even weapons of mass destruction by terrorist groups.”
He also recalled the terrorist act in Russia’s North Ossetian town of Beslan and said that those terrorists who were behind the school seizure were able to infiltrate into the town unhindered by the police because they stated “that they were heading to South Ossetia.”
“In fact, what is happening in secessionist regions of Georgia is nothing less but annexation, which simply is assertion of effective control though political, economic and military means over the territory of another state,” the Georgian envoy stated.
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