Tbilisi Slams Moscow Over Abashidze-Karasin Meeting Press Release
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia on November 28 slammed the Russian Foreign Ministry for the contents of its press brief regarding the November 27 online meeting between Zurab Abashidze, Georgian Prime Minister’s special representative for Russia, and Russia’s Federation Council Senator Grigory Karasin.
Russian MFA’s press brief might include Moscow’s approaches to various topics, but it does not reflect the contents of the talks, Georgian MFA said, stressing that “this is not the first time the Russian side disseminates wrong information, that uses nonformal, economic, and humanitarian issues for its political and propagandistic purposes.”
The Georgian MFA statement comes as the Russian press release of Abashidze-Karasin talks sparked minor street protest and social media frenzy among Georgians, that slammed the Georgian Dream-led government for appeasing Moscow.
The discussion between the Georgian and Russian diplomats did refer neither to the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, nor June 2019 anti-Russian occupation protests in Tbilisi, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
The Georgian MFA rejected the Russian release, according to which “mutual spirit was confirmed to overcome the negative consequences of the well-known anti-Russian provocation” in June 2019.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry also stressed that Geneva International Discussions, which is co-chaired by the UN, the EU, and the OSCE representatives, is the sole platform to address political issues, including grave security and humanitarian situations in Moscow-occupied territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions.
“Therefore, we call on the Russian side to refrain from disseminating wrong information and to voice its positions at an appropriate platform of the Geneva International Discussions, where it will obtain an adequate response from the Georgian side,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry concluded.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)