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Sokhumi, Tskhinvali Authorities Denounce PM Bakhtadze’s UNGA Speech

The “foreign ministries” of the Russian-backed authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia denounced Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze’s UNGA speech on September 27, in which he offered “a common future” to “the Abkhaz and [South] Ossetian compatriots.”

In a statement on September 28, Sokhumi authorities urged Tbilisi to “stop indulging in illusions that with the help of dubious peace initiatives, a renewed Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic can be restored.” They also noted that “history cannot be reversed,” and Georgia can build its policy only with the “Republic of Abkhazia,” considering “the current realities.”

Tskhinvali authorities echoed these messages, saying Bakhtadze’s speech was “imaginary” and was “far from reality.” “South Ossetia is an independent, internationally recognized state and there can be no illusions about ‘the common future’ with Georgia,” the statement reads.

The Russian Foreign Ministry released a statement as well, saying Prime Minister Bakhtadze’s speech “left strange impressions.” “As it seems, Tbilisi continues to convince the world community of the extremely false idea that absent the ‘Russian occupants,’ the populations of the [two] republics would have returned to Georgia long ago,” the statement reads.

“We hope the Georgian politicians, in their spare time from propagandistic exercises, will acknowledge the real state of affairs,” the Russian Foreign Ministry also stated, adding that the success of Tbilisi’s new peace initiative “will be determined not by Moscow’s positions, but solely by how it will be perceived” in Sokhumi and Tskhinvali.

Moscow recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia on August 26, 2008, two weeks after the end of the Russo-Georgian war. Syria, Venezuela, Nauru and Nicaragua are the only other nations that recognize the two regions’ independence from Georgia.

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

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