Parliament Talks Tough with Russian Peacekeepers
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| Peacekeepers’ checkpoint in South Ossetia. The Georgian Parliament plans to set performance deadline for Russian peacekeeping troops. |
Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze convened a press conference on September 29 to present the draft resolution. She said that the Parliament wants this document to be discussed publicly, pending a vote, which will take place at the soonest parliamentary session.
“If the Russian Federation does not undertake concrete measures to make tangible progress in fulfilling the mandate of the peacekeeping forces, we will demand that the Georgian government report to the Parliament about the situation by February 10, 2006 and in the event that the case is assessed negatively the Georgian Parliament will launch procedures and demand the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces from the Georgian territory [South Ossetian conflict zone],” Nino Burjanadze said at a news conference in Tbilisi.
She said that the same formulation will be reflected in the resolution in respect of the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the Abkhaz conflict zone.
“We have reiterated [in the draft resolution] that we are ready to undertake constructive steps and that is why we have set July 1 [2006] as the deadline. By that time, the government must report to the Parliament what kind of real and tangible steps have been taken towards making progress in the [Abkhaz] conflict zone. If the process is not assessed positively before July 1 [2006] by the Parliament, the Parliament will demand that the current peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia be stopped, starting from July 15 [2006], as well as the denunciation of the relevant international agreements,” Nino Burjanadze said.
She said that the resolution aims at pushing the Russian peacekeepers to improve its performance. Burjanadze recalled the recent military parade in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on September 20, which marked the unrecognized republic’s ‘independence’, as one of the examples of the Russian peacekeepers’ failure to secure a demilitarization of the conflict zone.
“The Georgian Parliament demands an answer to the question: ‘how did such an amount of new military hardware enter the territory of the former Autonomous District of South Ossetia, which borders only with Georgia and the Russian Federation?’” the draft resolution reads.
The document accuses Russia of supporting separatist regimes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and describes Russia’s moves as “annexation of a part of the Georgian territory.”
“The Georgian authorities want to establish normal and constructive relations with Russia. We call on Russia to play a constructive role and perform its duties, as a guarantor of a peacekeeping operation. However, we declare for the last time, and this is our political decision: if Russia does not take measures for achieving real progress in the peacekeeping process, they will leave Georgia,” Nino Burjanadze said.
The document says that a “clannish dictatorship” has been established in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which has led to a turning of these regions into a safe haven for criminals, terrorists and saboteur groups, which operate with the support of the Russian special services.
The draft resolution also says that Russia “intensively continues” granting Russian citizenship to the residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The document also condemns Russia’s decision to impose non-visa treatment with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, unlike other territories of Georgia. The document also focuses on cases of appointment of Russian citizens to key positions in the governments of the two breakaway regions.
“These cases and other kind of political and military support incite the separatist authorities to neglect the position of the international community and continued negligence of peacekeeping processes. It is clear that Russia has no political will to promote the resolution of conflicts on the territory of Georgia,” the draft resolution reads.
The draft resolution also instructs the Georgian Interior Ministry and the General Prosecutor’s Office to launch legal actions against those Russian citizens who have occupied key positions in the Abkhaz and South Ossetian governments.
The draft resolution also instructs the government to submit a detailed action plan to the Parliament by December 1, 2005 outlining those measures which the government has to implement in order to peacefully solve the conflicts. The document instructs the Foreign Ministry to intensify its measures to increase international efforts towards the peaceful resolution of the conflicts.