MEPs on 14th Anniversary of 2008 War

In a joint statement released on 7 August to mark the 14th anniversary of the Russian aggression on Georgia, six members of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs said they “reaffirm our unwavering support for Georgia’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.”

“14 years ago today, on August 7, 2008, in blatant violation of international law, Russia launched a war of aggression against Georgia,” they underscored. “The ramifications of this war are now vividly felt all over Europe. Russian aggression that went largely unpunished has engendered the Annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale, illegal, unjustified, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine in 2022.”

The MEPs condemned Russia’s continued policy of “borderization, crippling occupation, the so-called passportization, as well as other steps towards the de-facto annexation of Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia.”

Against this background, they welcomed the 21 January 2021 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights “establishing Russia’s guilt” in grave rights violations in Georgia’s occupied regions. They called on Russia to fulfill its obligations under the EU-mediated 12 August Ceasefire Agreement and withdraw its forces from Georgia.

The statement was signed by MEPs Petras Auštrevičius, Michael Gahler, Marina Kaljurand, Andrius Kubilius, Sven Mikser, and Viola von Cramon-Taubadel.

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