Russia’s Medvedev Threatens Annexation of Georgia’s Occupied Provinces

Dmitry Medvedev, former president of Russia, who currently holds the position of deputy chair of the security council, threatened recognition of Georgia’s occupied provinces.

In a long article, Medvedev, who was the president during Russia’s military aggression against Georgia in 2008, drew parallels with the current war unleashed by the Kremlin on Ukraine. He said the West has not learned from its “most stupid and shameful mistakes” in Georgia and will pay dearly for repeating them in Ukraine by supporting “freaks” and “the most useless, most manipulable and talentless politicians.”

Speaking about Georgia, he accused the West of “actively ramping up the pressure again.” He specifically spoke about the “spike in Russophobia” in Georgia, which he termed “a nonsense, a deformity, terrible disease, but which is, luckily, treatable” by military force. He referred to the conversations about Georgia’s membership in NATO to “create at our borders another source of tensions in addition to the Ukrainian flank.”

In this context, Medvedev wrote, “The idea of joining Russia is still popular in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and it could be easily realized if the convincing reasons to do so were to emerge.”

Georgian MFA Reacts

In an official statement attributable to the press office, the Georgian MFA said Medvedev’s statements “represent the continuation of the policy of occupation and yet another attempt on Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called on the Russian Federation to respect the principles of the international law and August 12, 2008 ceasefire agreement. The Ministry reiterated Georgia’s commitment to peaceful resolution of conflicts.

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