Foreign Minister Comments on Abkhazia, Russia’s Role

In an interview with the Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei published on August 4, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said that Russia has “exhausted its role as mediator” in Georgia’s secessionist conflicts.

He reiterated that Georgia has no intention to extend the current police operation in upper Kodori Gorge into Abkhaz-controlled territories.

“We have no plans to go beyond those agreements that were signed in Moscow [by the Georgian and Abkhaz sides] in 1994, which, by the way, [were signed] on enslaving conditions for Georgia. We are not satisfied with the level of effectiveness of the current peacekeeping operation, which are carried out based on this [1994 Moscow] agreement. But we are going to follow this agreement anyway, unless it is revised,” Bezhuashvili said.

He also said that the secessionist authorities of Abkhazia have become “hostages” of Russian policy.

When asked whether Georgia plans to push for involving the Abkhaz government-in-exile in the negotiation process with the Abkhaz secessionist authorities, Bezhuashvili replied: “It is not necessary. The major goal of [the Abkhaz government-in-exile] is to deal with the social-economic issues of displaced persons.”

He also said that Georgia will agree to the monitoring of Kodori Gorge by UN observers and Russian peacekeepers after security in Kodori Gorge is fully guaranteed.

“For some reason, everyone has forgotten that UN monitoring was suspended in Kodori Gorge three years ago because of the lack of security guarantees for observers. We are currently creating security conditions there… Give us week or two and then carry out the monitoring,” the Georgian Foreign Minister said.

But Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashili said on July 31 that Tbilisi will agree to the monitoring of upper Kodori Gorge only after an international inspection of the Gudauta military base in breakaway Abkhazia takes place.

Bezhuashvili also said that after appointment of his deputy Merab Antadze as Georgia’s State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues, First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Chechelashvili will now be in charge of talks with the Russian side. He said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Denisov is expected to visit Georgia this September.

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