Russia Refutes Saakashvili ‘Inaccurate’ Remarks

The Russian Foreign Ministry reiterated on April 2 that Moscow had never promised President Saakashvili it would never recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

The statement follows after President Saakashvili said in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant, published on March 31, that during his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow in February the Russian side had promised not to recognize the breakaway regions. The Foreign Ministry said that there were a number of “inaccuracies” in Saakashvili’s remarks.

This is not the first time the Russian Foreign Ministry has refuted remarks made by the Georgian President.  

Speaking to Russian lawmakers on April 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also raised the issue and said that President Saakashvili was “misinterpreting” the facts. In particular, Lavrov mentioned Saakashvili’s statement that Russia and Georgia had “actually agreed on everything” in relation to Russia’s WTO membership and that Moscow had agreed to open a joint customs checkpoint at the border with breakaway South Ossetia.

The Foreign Ministry, however, said in its statement that during the talks on the matter the Russian side had underlined that customs control at the Abkhaz and South Ossetian borders would “totally depend on the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflict resolution process and on the consent of Sokhumi and Tskhinvali.”

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