Lavrov Calls on Georgia to Sign Treaty on Non-Use of Force

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on January 23 that Georgia should demonstrate its readiness to resolve the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts peacefully by signing agreements with both breakaway regions on the non-use of force.

“We have been consistently calling on our Georgian colleagues for the past two years to respond to the OSCE initiative and adopt, together with Tskhinvali, a declaration on the non-use of force for the settlement of the South Ossetian conflict,” Lavrov said at a news conference in Moscow. “We believe a similar stance is required on Abkhazia as well. Our Georgian colleagues assure us that they have no intention of using force to settle these problems, but at the same time they refuse to sign a simple, unambiguous declaration regarding South Ossetia and Abkhazia.”

Davit Bakradze, the acting Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, confirmed on January 23 that Tbilisi had no intention of signing such a declaration, saying it would be interpreted as an agreement between two “neighboring states.”

“The Georgian side rejects the form proposed by the Russian side. Russia wants agreements between Georgia and Abkhazia and Georgia and South Ossetia, implying they are neighboring independent states. [The format suggests] its about the non-resumption of hostilities between neighboring states,” Bakradze told Mze TV. “We will never agree to such an agreement… The agreement should specify that it concerns the settlement of an internal Georgian conflict, which aims at the exclusively peaceful restoration of Georgia’s territorial integrity. In this case, we will definitely sign it.”

He also said that the treaty should be coupled with an agreement on launch of return of internally displaced persons back to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Previously, the Georgian authorities had said they would sign a declaration on the non-use of force if western powers, rather than Russia, acted as guarantor.