Moscow Supports Secessionist Leaders’ Joint Statement
Tbilisi’s support for the “puppet governments” in Abkhazia and South Ossetia is incompatible with its declared intention to hold direct talks with Sokhumi and Tskhinvali, Mikhail Kaminin, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry said on April 24.
Earlier on April 21, Abkhaz and South Ossetian leaders, Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity, respectively, issued a joint statement condemning Tbilisi’s attempts to legitimize “the puppet governments.” That, they said, would force them to reject talks with Tbilisi, particularly on status issues. The two secessionist leaders also condemned Georgia’s possible accession to NATO, saying “that it will finally put an end to the prospect of political settlement.”
Kaminin said “that the statement adopted by the two presidents is a serious warning.”
He said that by supporting the alternative governments, “the Georgian leadership may undermine the negotiations with those who really represent the interests of these two peoples; negotiations which could eventually lead to discussion of status issues.”
Kaminin also stressed that Georgia’s intensive preparations for NATO entry could also undermine the negotiating process and even the very principle of territorial integrity.
“If there is a failure to reach agreement, responsibility will lie with the Georgian leadership, as well the strategists in Washington and Brussels, who pursue their own interests and encourage Tbilisi’s short-sighted policy,” Kaminin said.
Officials in Tbilisi have yet to comment on this issue.
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