Georgia’s UN Envoy Slams Russia

Georgian Ambassador to the UN Revaz Adamia made a written appeal to the UN Security Council after, as Adamia said, he was blocked by Russia from attending closed-door discussions over Abkhazia at the Security Council session.In an appeal made on January 26 Revaz Adamia overviews the recent developments in breakaway Abkhazia and criticizes Moscow’s role, as well as the activities of the Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone. 

“It was extremely interesting following the developments after the first [October 3, 2004 presidential] ‘elections’.  Obviously, the protégé of Russia [Raul Khajimba] and President Putin himself – at least that was claimed on the ‘campaign’ posters – could not live up to the expectations of his patrons and lost the round. This triggered a chain of events that is rather interesting. Candidates were systematically summoned to high Kremlin cabinets. When persuasion failed, Moscow showed the world, including the population of Abkhazia, who really holds the reins in the region. On the eve of the so-called inauguration, Russia just closed the check-point on the Psou River [on Abkhaz section of Russian-Georgian border]… This was followed by a ‘magnificent’ move with a so-called Constitutional Agreement, signed, by the way, by Deputy Prosecutor-General of the Russian Federation! Isn’t that an absurd,” asks the Georgian Ambassador to the UN.

He said that Russian peacekeeping troops, deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) “is rather far from being impartial and is often backing Abkhaz separatist paramilitary structures.” 

“I think it is high time to start thinking of a new format for the peacekeeping operation, as the activities of the Russian military contingent could hardly be considered as a ‘peacekeeping operation,'” he added.

Revaz Adamia said that despite international obligations, the Russian military base in Gudauta in breakaway Abkhazia still operates, though he concedes that it was downsized. Russia committed to disband the Gudauta base under the 1999 OSCE Istanbul treaty.
 
Adamia also expressed concern that the international format of negotiations over conflict resolution issues, known as the Geneva Process, “is at risk of becoming just a discussion club.”  

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