Tbilisi Condemns Medvedev-Bagapsh Meeting

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Medvedev’s meeting with Bagapsh caused “bewilderment” and “concern” in Tbilisi.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh in Moscow on June 26.

“The fact that the leader of the separatist regime, which carried out bloody ethnic cleansing, was received at the highest level, is a cause for bewilderment and concern,” Grigol Vashadze, the Georgian deputy foreign minister, said on June 26.

In a separate statement the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that the timing of the meeting was also “bewildering.”

“Serous efforts are currently underway to arrange a meeting between the Russian and Georgian presidents,” it said. “The Georgian side is disposed to improving bilateral ties through constructive dialogue. But good neighborly relations between Russia and Georgia are only possible by taking into consideration each others’ national interests, which in itself implies mutual respect of one’s neighbor’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and not supporting in any way separatist regimes.”

The Kremlin press office said after the Medvedev-Bagapsh meeting that it was stressed during the talks that progress in conflict resolution could only be reached “through implementing the previously signed agreements, and first and foremost, the Moscow agreement on the non-use of force and separation of forces dated May 14, 1994, as well as the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.”

The Kremlin said that “President of Abkhazia” Bagapsh had stressed what he called the vital role of the Russian peacekeepers in the region. “He also thanked the Russian Federation for the support rendered to Abkhazia’s population in resolving socio-economic and humanitarian problems,” the Kremlin said.

The meeting between Medvedev and Bagapsh came just hours before the Russian president’s departure to the Siberian town of Khanty-Mansiysk, which is hosting an EU-Russia summit on June 26-27. Russo-Georgian tensions are expected to be raised at the summit.

A senior lawmaker from the ruling party, Givi Targamadze, said that Russia’s decision to arrange such a top level meeting with the Abkhaz leader should be a clear signal for EU leaders and in particular for German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Russia can no longer perform the role of mediator as it is itself a side in the conflict.

Speaking at a joint news conference with President Saakashvili after talks in Berlin on June 25, Chancellor Merkel said she shared Georgia’s concern over Russia’s recent moves in Abkhazia, but also made it clear that Russian peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia should remain in the region until an alternative was found. 

“This [Medvedev-Bagapsh meeting] is a response to Chancellor Merkel’s calls that we should show restraint and that the format should not be changed for now,” MP Targamadze, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said.

“I think that giving instructions to the separatist leaders in his [Medvedev’s] own office confirms that the peacekeeping format should be changed, as the Russian president himself has confirmed that he represents one of the parties, which is the initiator of aggression.”

Reaction to the Medvedev-Bagapsh meeting from other officials in Tbilisi, however, has been more cautious.

Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration issues, said he hoped the meeting was no more than an attempt by Medvedev to get “first-hand information” from the Abkhaz leader ahead of the EU-Russia summit.

“If we suppose that Medvedev is seriously preparing for this meeting and wants to know everything in details, in this case we welcome it,” Iakobashvili said. “But if this is a continuation of the policy of caressing with one hand and cutting your hand with the other, we of course cannot welcome it. I think that everything will be clarified in the next few days.”