Georgia calls on Russia to abandon its aggressive policy

/By AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Georgia has called on Russia to stop its aggressive policy against sovereign states in the region.

Addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 2, Georgian Foreign Minister, Tamar Beruchashvili urged Moscow to abandon its current policy towards Georgia and Ukraine, calling the crisis in Ukraine "an un-isolated case."

"Today we face the situation when the universally recognized principles and norms of international law are abused by one of the Human Rights Council member states and a permanent member of the UN Security Council," she said referring to Russia.

"Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and further steps to destabilize its eastern regions should be addressed by the whole international community," Beruchashvili added.

She called on the Russian rulers to reaffirm Georgia's strong support to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

"Ukraine is not an isolated case, but rather a part of Russia’s plans to expand the zones of its influence by hampering the sovereign right of nations to determine their future," Beruchashvili noted.

Recalling Russia's armed invasion on Georgia's territory in 2008 and the subsequent occupation of 20 percent of its internationally recognized territory, she said Russia remains in flagrant violation of the August 2008 ceasefire agreement.

Russia’s so-called integration treaties with the puppet regimes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are the continuation of Russia’s annexation policy, believes Beruchashvili.

Going on her address, Beruchashvili also highlighted Georgia's steps to harmonize domestic legislation with international standards through the ratification and accession of various human rights instruments and international conventions.

Russia has signed consecutive Alliance and Strategic Partnership deals with the separatist regimes in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, which Tbilisi called an intention to annex those regions.

As a response to Moscow, the Georgian government announced that it will not sit back an inch from its position on the breakaway regions.

The relations between Georgia and Russia reached a critical point when Georgian troops launched several military operations to retake the breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions on August 8, 2008. At which point the Russian armed forces entered the regions to stop all military attacks by Georgian troops. After four days of intense fighting, Georgian forces were expelled from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire on August 12. Russia is currently dominating the collective peacekeeping missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgia and Russia are trying to come to a conclusion on the conflicted issues through the Geneva talks that began after the August war in 2008. The talks are co-chaired by representatives from the EU, UN and OSCE. Despite numerous meetings between the special envoys of the two countries, no tangible result has been reached so far.