Georgia should not be Ignored in EU’s Talks with Russia – Bakradze

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian Parliamentary Chairman, said on November 10 he hoped EU would not ignore Georgia’s outstanding problems even if it decides to resume partnership talks with Russia.

“Decision about EU-Russian relations is expected to be made these days; whatever the decision is, I hope, EU-Russian relations will not continue at the expense of ignoring Georgia’s legal interests,” Bakradze told senior lawmakers at the parliamentary bureau session.

“Of course we have nothing against of development of relations between Russia and EU, but there are principle issues, which should not be ignored; the principle is that Russia, which is violating Georgia’s sovereignty, should not be accepted as usual partner and Georgia should remain part of permanent dialogue between EU and Russia, unless Russia fulfills all of its commitments. Russia’s return to the positions held prior to the August 7 status quo should remain a principal issue of dialogue between Russia and EU,” Bakradze said.

“I want to express hope that EU will maintain and continue its policy – which so far has already brought number of positive results and for that we are grateful – I hope this policy will continue and I hope that in case of resumption of [EU-Russia partnership talks], these talks will not ignore very important issues related with [Georgia].”

He said that recent developments in the village of Perevi, as well as the November 10 explosion close to the South Ossetian administrative border, which killed two Georgian policemen, demonstrated that Russia was not following its commitments undertaken under the EU-mediated ceasefire deals.

“We have seen very precise and adequate statements made by EU Monitoring Mission about the recent developments and I hope that the recent developments will become an issue for discussions in EU,” Bakradze said.

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