Delegation of the Russia-Belarus Union visits Occupied Abkhazia
A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia headed by Artem Turov, a member of the Russian Parliament, visited Abkhazia and met with the occupied region’s leader, Aslan Bzhania on 1 November.
According to Bzhania’s press service, during the meeting, the Abkhaz leader noted the “importance of intensifying relations at the level of the legislative or executive branches of government, [and] various structures of state administration.”
In that context, he expressed confidence that such meetings will help “strengthen the friendship between the peoples of Abkhazia, Russia, and Belarus.”
Bzhania also noted the importance of furthering economic relations between Abkhazia and Belarus, remarking, “We believe that economic development issues are very important to us. The President of Belarus recently visited, we have outlined certain steps and we hope that there will be even more of them.”
Per Bzhania’s press service, on his part, Turov thanked Bzhania for the “constructive conversation” during the delegation’s meeting with the “parliament speaker” Lasha Ashuba, where they “discussed a number of areas in which both Russia, Belarus, and Abkhazia are interested.”
“We need to intensively build ties in the humanitarian, economic, and political spheres, and I am sure that we will be able to respond to the challenges that our people face,” he underscored.
Notably, the visit comes a month after Belarussian leader Aleksandar Lukashenka’s visit to occupied Abkhazia drew widespread condemnation from the Georgian government, the public, opposition politicians, and international partners alike.
- 29/09/2022 – Outrage at Lukashenka’s Visit to Abkhazia
- 29/09/2022 – Georgian President Talks Lukashenka’s Visit and Occupied Abkhazia
At that time, beyond the Foreign ministry summoning the Belarussian Ambassador, the Georgian government did not take any further steps in retaliation for Lukashenka’s visit.
Later, as Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili presented his first report to Parliament and answered deputies’ questions, he retorted to queries about the Foreign Ministry’s response to Lukashenka’s visit, by stating that authorities had “very specific, consistent steps that we took.”
“First, we made a specific statement at the level of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There was a response from the Prime Minister of Georgia, there was also my [response]. We summoned the Ambassador of Belarus to Georgia for an explanation and took all the diplomatic steps that the country should take at such a time,” he denoted.
The Foreign Minister had also expressed hope that “Belarus will firmly return to the position it had in relation to Georgia, in the direction of protecting Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.” “I think and I am very optimistic that similar manifestations that harm our country will not happen in the future,” he said.
Civil.ge contacted the Foreign Ministry but was told that they have no comment yet concerning the visit of the Parliamentary delegation to Abkhazia.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
