Georgian Speaker Slams Lavrov’s Remarks on IDP Return

Davit Bakradze, the chairman of the Georgian parliament, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks on the return of internally displaced persons to Abkhazia were “very unconstructive.”

Lavrov said on July 17 that signing a non-use of force treaty was required before other aspects of the peace process, including IDP return, could be considered. “Our western partners try to link this demand [for a non-use of force  treaty] with signing of a document on the return of refugees, which is absolutely unreal at this stage,” Lavrov added.

“What hampers the [peace] process is the position of Russia and today we witnessed yet another, I think, very unconstructive statement by the Russian foreign minister questioning the right of return of refugees,” Bakradze told journalists after meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“And that is the first time the Russian foreign minister personally has made a statement contradicting all UN resolutions and all bilateral agreements signed by Georgia and Russia on the necessity of a return of refugees and that is a very unfortunate development,” Bakradze added.

Bakradze, who before becoming the parliamentary chairman was foreign minister, said that he had discussed a Berlin-proposed three-stage plan for Abkhaz conflict resolution with the German foreign minister.

Like other Georgian officials, Bakradze spoke cautiously about the plan, saying only that “there are elements in the plan, which are fully acceptable for the Georgian side.”

“It [the German proposals] is an attempt to design a framework within which it will be possible to resolve the conflict,” Bakradze said. “Of course, this framework should be flexible and open for additional considerations by the Georgian side and we had a very good and open discussion on that [with the German foreign minister].”

“But we should mainly focus on achieving a certain progress in the return of IDPs at the very first stage of implementation [of the plan]. This is cornerstone for us,” Bakradze continued. “Otherwise, we cannot accept any plans, which speak about the return of refugees in the future tense. Unfortunately, the today’s statement by the Russian Foreign Minister was made in this context.”

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