‘Decision Made to Cease Russian Peacekeeping’

A decision on withdrawal of Russian peacekeeping troops from the Abkhaz conflict zone has been made, but an exact date will be announced sometime later after consultations with Georgia’s western allies, senior lawmakers said after talks with cabinet ministers.

“Decision to cease Russian peacekeepers’ mandate and to delegitimize their presence has been made,” Nino Burjanadze, the Parliamentary Chairperson, said. “Meanwhile, we are continuing consultation with our international partners about a concrete date when the withdrawal takes place, so it won’t be a surprise for them. You will learn about the concrete date of peacekeepers withdrawal later.”

A similar statement was made by an influential lawmakers from the ruling party, Giga Bokeria: “Decision about ceasing [Russian peacekeepers’] mandate is made. As far as the date is concerned, we will hold additional consultations with our allies so that to inform them about it and not to make this date a surprise for them. But I want to stress once again that the decision is already made.”

Remarks were made after senior lawmakers from the ruling party met with Gela Bezhuashvili, the foreign minister; Davit Kezerashvili, the defense minister and Vano Merabishvili, the interior minister. The meeting, as well as revitalization of the Russian peacekeepers’ issues comes after the incident in Ganmukhuri on October 30.

In a resolution, passed last July, the Parliament has already instructed the government to “to launch necessary procedures to immediately suspend the so-called peacekeeping operations” in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. No concrete procedure was since then undertaken by the Executive authorities, which has become a source of opposition’s criticism.

Officials were making more cautious remarks just before the meeting between the senior lawmakers and the ministers.

“You know that the Parliament has passed a relevant resolution last year,” Parliamentary Chairperson, Nino Burjanadze, said, “however, we do not want to take any spontaneous decisions about it… Withdrawal of peacekeepers has never been our goal in itself, but peacekeepers are not neutral, they are biased, supporting separatists, and they are not guarantors of peace in the region. On the contrary, in the most cases, they act as a major catalyst of destabilization.”

After the meeting, PM Bokeria said that mechanism for peacekeepers’ withdrawal was “very simple.”

“It is a sovereign right of Georgia to notify the peacekeepers that their mandate is ceased and they should leave the territory within a month,” he said.

Over 2 000 Russian peacekeepers are deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone under the aegis of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), in accordance to an agreement on Cease-Fire and Separation of Forces signed by the Georgian and Abkhaz sides in Moscow on May 14, 1994.

Russian troops were deployed in Abkhazia on June 21, 1994 under the formal name of Collective Peacekeeping Forces of CIS. The 1994 agreement authorized the peacekeeping forces to maintain the cease-fire and to promote “the safe return of refugees and displaced persons especially to the Gali district.”

Deployment of the peacekeepers was then formally approved with a document adopted by the leaders of the CIS member states on August 22, 1994. The document reads that the peacekeeping troops are deployed upon the request of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides.

The peacekeeping forces were deployed in the conflict zone for six months, but their mandate was prolonged in every half-year. In summer, 2003 by-then Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said that during the meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which took place on March 7, 2003 in Sochi, the two Presidents reached an agreement under which Russian peacekeepers can stay in the conflict zone until one of the sides demands their withdrawal.

There is a different peacekeeping for format for South Ossetia, where Russian troops are stationed as part of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), which also involves Georgian and Ossetian servicemen.

The JPKF was set up and stationed in the conflict zone based on a June 24, 1992 agreement. Then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin and then-Head of the Georgian State Eduard Shevardnadze signed this agreement in Russia’s resort city of Sochi.

Although the JPKF was set up on the basis of Sochi agreement, a detailed mandate for the joint forces was outlined later in 1992 in agreements signed in frames of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) – a quadripartite negotiating body involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides. The JCC was also set up on the basis of the 1992 Sochi agreement.

The 1992 Sochi agreement and following decisions by the JCC mandated that the JPKF provide peace and maintain law and order in the conflict zone. But the JPKF’s mandate was modified in February, 1997 through a decision by the JCC and “maintenance of law and order” was removed from the JPKF’s mandate.

According to the JCC agreement of July 6, 1992, the duration of presence of JPKF is defined by the Heads of States of Russia and Georgia. “The JCC offers its proposals over this issue to the Heads of States,” according to the July 6, 1992 JCC agreement.

Georgia will have to renounce the 1992 Sochi agreement if it wants to cease the JPKF’s activities in the conflict zone. Withdrawal from this agreement will automatically result in ceasing the JCC’s mandate as well.