Georgian Speaker Condemns Russia’s ‘Syndrome of Impunity’
Russia’s unprecedented acknowledgment of a violation of Georgian airspace is a result of “a syndrome of impunity,” Davit Bakradze, the Georgian parliamentary chairman, said on July 11.
The Russian Foreign Ministry admitted on July 10 that Russian aircraft had flown a sortie over Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia to “cool some hot heads in Tbilisi” on July 8.
Bakradze told Parliament that international reaction was needed to put an end to Russia’s “syndrome of impunity.”
“This admission means that Russia is saying: Yes, I carried out this military aggression and so what?” Bakradze said.
"This is a continuation of Russia’s provocative moves, which started in March by pulling out from the 1996 CIS treaty on the imposition of sanctions on Abkhazia," he said.
Parliament is due to pass a motion condemning recent Russian moves on July 11.
Speaking at the parliament session on July 11 MP Giorgi Gabashvili of the ruling party said: “It seems that hot heads in Moscow, Sokhumi and Tskhinvali plan to carry out more serious acts of military aggression against Georgia.”
He said that in this situation Georgia had two ways: the first, to act in cooperation with the international community over replacement of the current peacekeeping format; or the second, to make a unilateral decision and deprive the Russian peacekeeping forces, stationed in the conflict zones, of a peacekeeping status.
“Naturally, none of these options can be ruled out,” MP Gabashvili said. “Just this statement, which we plan to adopt, should be a last chance for the international community to explain everybody that these peacekeepers cause there a real threat of launching a war and if they do not leave the territory as a result of urgent efforts of the international community, we will be forced to unilaterally deprive them of their status and to take care for establishing peace on the dividing lines ourselves.”
Georgia said it was recalling its ambassador, Erosi Kitsmarishvili, from Moscow “for consultations,” in response to Russia’s admission of a violation of Georgian airspace.
“I do not know yet how long I will remain in Tbilisi,” Kitsmarishvili told journalists in Moscow, before his departure for Georgia.
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