European Parliament Resolution on EU-Russia Relations touches upon Georgia

The European Parliament (EP) adopted yesterday a resolution on the current state of EU-Russia political relations, which postulates that “under the present circumstances, Russia can no longer be considered a ‘strategic partner'”, and subsequently calls for substantive revision of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA).

The resolution contains an extensive list of Russia’s violations of international laws and conventions, and also lists specific instances where Russia undermines the stability of the international system and directly threatens the EU, its members as well as the neighboring states.

This resolution also contains several direct references to Georgia, which are summarized below.

Specifically, the preamble refers to EP’s “previous resolutions, in particular that of 14 June 2018 on Georgian occupied territories 10 years after the Russian invasion, in which it has condemned Russia’s occupation of Georgian territorie,s, alongside the resolution on the human right situation in Crimea.

Also in the preamble (paragraph K), the EP referred to Russia being “directly or indirectly party to a number of protracted conflicts in the common neighbourhood – in Transnistria, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Donbas and Nagorno Karabakh – that constitute serious impediments to the development and stability of the neighbouring countries concerned, undermine their independence and limit their free sovereign choices.”

In the operational part, the EP:

(1) Condemns Russia’s “continuous violation of the territorial integrity of Georgia and Moldova constitute a deliberate violation of international law, democratic principles and fundamental values; strongly condemns human rights violations carried out by Russian representatives on the occupied territories;”

(22) “Condemns Russia’s violation of the territorial integrity of neighbouring countries including through the illegal kidnapping of citizens of those countries so that they can be charged before a Russian court.”

(24) “Reaffirms its unequivocal support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia; demands that the Russian Federation cease its occupation of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia and fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia; stresses the need for the Russian Federation to unconditionally fulfil all the provisions of the ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008, in particular the commitment to withdrawing all its military forces from the territory of Georgia;”

In recommendations part it:

(46) “underlines the danger of weakening the sanctions without Russia demonstrating through clear actions, not only in words, that it respects the borders of Europe and the sovereignty of its neighbours and other nations, as well as international rules and agreements; reiterates that business as usual only can be possible once Russia fully respects the rules and restricts itself to acting in a peaceful manner;”

and

(47) “Reiterates that Russia has no right of veto over the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of European nations.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)