U.S. Official: Russia’s ‘Provocative’ Steps Deter Peace Process

Washington finds Russia’s “provocative actions” in respect of Georgia “as working against cause of peaceful settlement” of the Abkhaz conflict, Mathew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said in Tbilisi on May 9.

“We welcome and praise Georgia for remarkably restraint response to series of provocative steps by Russia in recent weeks,” he said at a news conference. “We find Russian statements talking about the possible threat of Russia launching military operations against Georgia as deeply troubling.”

He said mediators and peacekeepers “do not issue military threats to parties to the conflict.”

He also said that the U.S. still called on Russia to reverse its decision to deepen its ties with breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

“We find those actions, as well as lifting of CIS military sanctions and of course the unilateral decision to increase Russia’s CIS peacekeepers as working against cause of peaceful settlement of Abkhazia conflict,” Bryza said. “Russian such actions operate contrary to Russia’s desired status as a facilitator of the United National Friends process.”

Russia along with the United States, France, Britain and Germany, are part of the UN Secretary General Group of Friends facilitating in the Abkhaz peace process.

He said that “much better way forward” would be Russia to work with the Georgian government over President Saakashvili peaceful initiatives. 

“We hope that our colleagues in Russia will encourage our colleagues in Sukhumi to embrace those ideas President Saakashvili had put forward, develop them further and suggest addition or changes in these ideas so that we have genuine peace process that can lead to political settlement in Abkhazia, that allows Georgian IDPs to return and that also ensures the Abkhaz population can live safely and securely in unified Georgia.”

He also said that part of the process of making Georgia even more attractive for Abkhazia and residents of South Ossetia “is streangthening Georgia’s democratic institutions.”

Bryza will travel to Abkhazia to hold talks with the authorities of the breakaway region on May 10.