Parliament Comments on Peacekeepers’ Rotation

At a plenary session of the Parliament on December 14 Pikria Chikhradze, one of the leaders of the Rightist Opposition, protested against a story broadcasted by Russian NTV television regarding the rotation of Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia and demanded the suspension of “this non-peacekeeping mission.”

One of the Russian peacekeepers said in the story that before this rotation they had undergone special training, during which they were told that Abkhazia was always an independent state and was only integrated into Georgia over 30-40 years.

“We see that the peacekeepers are filled with political ideology, according to which they are going to a ‘country’ [breakaway Abkhazia] which struggles for independence today,” Pikria Chikhradze said on December 14.

Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that this particular incident proved once again the soundness of the Parliament’s resolution from October 10, which calls on the removal of the peacekeeping force if it continues to be ‘ineffective’.

“Not a single Russian politician should think that the Parliament will not fulfill this resolution. If there is no progress in peacekeepers’ activities by February [in breakaway South Ossetia], we will launch the withdrawal procedures,” Nino Burjanadze said.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)