‘Georgia Will Not Recognize Kosovo’ – Foreign Minister

Georgia’s foreign minister, Davit Bakradze, said on February 18 that Tbilisi would not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

“I think everyone in Georgia, regardless of political orientation, is unanimous on this,” Bakradze said on a Rustavi 2 TV talk-show, Primetime. “As a diplomat I can say that Georgia does not plan to consider issue of recognition of Kosovo’s independence; we are not working on this issue.”

“We are doing our best to minimize all possible negative consequences,” he continued. “Most western states are willing to recognize Kosovo and there is Russia and some EU-member states who are against it. So Georgia, as a small state, has to carefully maneuver among these conflicting positions.”

He said that Russia viewed recognition of Kosovo’s independence as “a challenge.” “The easiest way to respond, in the simple minds of some people in Moscow, is to undertake similar steps in the former Soviet space, just as the west has done in the Balkans,” Bakradze said. “[This poses] a high-degree of risk [for Georgia].”

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