Vladimir Socor of the U.S. based think-tank Jamestown Foundation reports, based on an off-the-record conversation with EU officials, that the European Union’s High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana met with the leaders of Georgia’s secessionist provinces Eduard Kokoity and Sergey Bagapsh in Sochi, Russian Federation, on April 5.
According to the report, Solana was “set up” to meet the secessionist leaders by Putin and the EU official was “caught off-guard and accepted.”
“EU officials in Brussels contend (still off-the-record) that Solana “delivered a strong message” during the brief discussion: namely, that those conflicts can only be resolved politically, not through force; and that the EU supports Georgia’s territorial integrity. These talking points sound, however, no different from Russia’s standard rhetoric,” says the report.
Russian sources have refused to confirm the meeting between Putin and the secessionist leaders. Only the Abkhaz president Sergey Bagapsh and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity publicized the meeting. However, no mention of Solana’s participation has been made until now.
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