Georgian-Russian Relations Debated at PACE
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| Photo from the PACE web-site. |
The debates ran for one hour, but they were not supposed to deliver any specific resolution. The debates were opened by the head of the Georgian parliamentary delegation to PACE MP Giga Bokeria. As Giga Bokeria said before the debates, the discussion aimed at drawing more international attention towards the conflicts in breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze arrived in Strasbourg to participate in the debates, thus emphasizing the importance of the event for Tbilisi. Burjanadze argued later, that PACE may decide to appoint a rapporteur on Russo-Georgian relations.
During the debates the Georgian delegation mainly focused on those cases which, as Tbilisi says, confirm Moscow’s open support for the Abkhaz and South Ossetian separatist regimes.
“South Ossetian separatists deliver arms to the region with the open support of the Russian government. The border between South Ossetia and Russia is controlled by the Russian authorities and it was open [in August] for Russian mercenaries, who came to the region [of South Ossetia],” Georgian MP Giga Bokeria said during the debates.
He also claimed that Russia’s main goal at this stage is not to resolve the conflicts in Georgia, “but to maintain the status-quo and to use these conflicts as a tool to pressure Georgia. This is the unfortunate reality.”
“The Duma [Russia’s lower house of the Parliament] has passed a declaration wherein they [the Russian MPs] openly considered the possibility of integration of South Ossetia into the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has openly said that its main goal is to protect their citizens in the region [South Ossetia]. This is another peculiar detail in this situation. Russia has granted citizenship to the individuals in these breakaway regions [of Abkhazia and South Ossetia] in a speedy manner, hence breaking all international rules and legal procedures. Now they are putting the argument forward that they have to protect their citizens. Now Russia is the mediator in these conflicts, but at the same time they say that their main interest is to protect their citizens. There is an inherent conflict [of interest] in this situation. At the moment Russia is not able to act as an effective mediator in these conflicts” MP Bokeria said.
Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said that the aim of the debates was not to blame Russia, but to find constrictive ways of cooperation and to convince Moscow to give up its policy of double standards. She also called for more active involvement by the international community in the resolving of conflict issues in Georgia.
“Problems exist and we should not ignore them. The new Georgian democracy can not tolerate the existence of uncontrolled separatist enclaves, so called “safe havens” for international terrorists and criminals,” Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze told the Council of Europe parliamentarians during the debates.
She said that more than 1500 people have died and more than 6,000 houses have been burned down, despite the constant presence of “so called peacekeeping forces” from Russia in the conflict zones.
“What is frozen is the conflict resolution process itself, which can be solved only through assistance from the international community,” she added.
“One can not suppress separatism in Grozny [capital of Chechnya] and support it [separatism] a few kilometers away in Georgia. While Russia is suffering from the enormous pain of terrorism in Beslan, it should not be celebrating opening of the railway connection with the very same type of separatism in Abkhazia. We know that Russia explains the restoration of the railway connection as a humanitarian act, declaring that they can’t leave the Abkhazian population in isolation. However, all these [things] happen at the same time; the Russian authorities actually isolate the whole Georgian population by blocking the civil and commercial transportation,” Nino Burjanadze said.
She also expressed protest regarding a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry describing the October 3 presidential elections in the unrecognized Abkhazian republic as “democratic.”
“Let me use this opportunity to publicly ask the Russian representatives: is it a humanitarian act as well, when the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an official statement openly recognizes a process in separatist, self-proclaimed Abkhazia [such] as presidential elections and assessed them as an act of genuine democracy, while most of the local population [referring to the Georgian internally displaced persons from Abkhazia] are deprived of their fundamental human rights? If this is the Russian vision of democracy then all in this hall should be deeply troubled,” Nino Burjanadze said, while addressing the Assembly.
The Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson also condemned Moscow’s calls to end the OSCE border monitoring mission in Georgia. Observers from the OSCE member states have been monitoring the troubled Chechen, Ingush and Daghestani sections of the Russo-Georgian border since 1999.
“If this part of the border represents a threat to Russian security why then is Russia against of presence of international monitors there, why is there still no answer to our proposal to establish joint anti-terrorism center in Georgia?” she said.
The Russian delegation at PACE opposed the holding of the debates, insisting on a discussion of the relations between the two countries in frames of the bilateral parliamentary commission.
“This is a very delicate issue and this way of discussion may only hinder finding a compromise,” Russian MP Konstantin Kosachev said during the debate.
“Georgia should look for the key to the Abkhazia and South Ossetian conflict resolutions at home and not in Strasbourg, as well as in the construction of relations with the leadership of the autonomies [referring to Abkhazia and South Ossetia] and in the protection of human and ethnic minority rights there,” he added.
MP Konstantin Kosachev described the debates as “a political stage show, aimed at demonstrating how the strong and totalitarian Russia offends weak and democratic Georgia.”
He said that the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts hinder the improvement of the bilateral ties, but added that Russo-Georgian relations should not focus mainly on conflicts but rather underline those positive measures which, as he said, Moscow carries out towards Georgia.
“Russia keeps delivering gas and electricity despite Georgia’s huge debt. Russia assisted Georgia in restructuring the repayment of its foreign debt to the Paris Club of creditors. The Georgian government itself recognized Russia’s positive role in solving the crisis in Adjara,” the Russian MP said.
MP Konstantin Kosachev also reiterated Russia’s official position that Moscow supports only a peaceful settlement of the conflicts, but expressed fears that Georgia might use force to restore its territorial integrity and recalled events in August in breakaway South Ossetia wherein armed clashes erupted between Georgian and South Ossetian forces.
“We fear that by pushing this debate on the agenda, Georgia prepares public opinion on the eve of [Georgia’s] attempts to repeat measures similar to those that were undertaken this summer – attempts to forcefully resolve the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts,” he added.