Tbilisi Waits for EU, U.S. Engagement before Demanding Peacekeepers’ Withdrawal

Tbilisi has agreed to shelve a plan to demand the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers on the understanding that the EU and U.S. would use their influence with Moscow over the issue, Reuters reported.

“Our American and European colleagues asked us to give them the chance to work with the Russians,” Alexandre Lomaia, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council, told Reuters.

The Russian Foreign Ministry warned on June 17 that Tbilisi’s possible “reckless” decision to demand the pull out of peacekeepers from Abkhazia might lead to more tensions in the entire Caucasus region.

An EU-Russia summit will be held on June 26-27 in the Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiysk. Reuters quoted an unnamed EU official on June 23 as saying that the European Union will take a robust line in telling Russia to respect Georgia’s territorial integrity at the summit “Yes, we will be robust on the what it means to preserve the territorial integrity of Georgia,” the EU official said.

Daniel Fried, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, said on June 18 that Russia had increased political and military pressure on Georgia, which was a source of concern for the United States.

“They risk igniting a wider conflict and call into question Russia’s role as a peacekeeper and facilitator of negotiations between Georgia and Abkhazia and South Ossetia respectively,” he told the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing.

Meanwhile, Davit Bakradze, the Georgian parliamentary chairman, said on June 23 that Tbilisi wanted Russia to withdraw its additional troops from Abkhazia and to rescind its decision on establishing official ties with breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

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