Georgia says Moscow is trying to hamper negotiation process

Irresponsible statement made by the opposition leaders in Tbilisi, became the occasion to hamper the dialogue and the negotiation process, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergi Kapanadze said.

Thus the deputy minister responded to the announcement head of the EU observation mission in Georgia Andrzej Tiskevicius as persona non grata by de facto Abkhaz Foreign Ministry. Sukhumi accused Tiskevicius in the unwillingness to respond to the statement that the informal Georgian armed forces are created at the border with Abkhazia.

According to Kapanadze, one of the main arguments, which the Abkhaz side uses, is that there is no appropriate response the EU observation mission to those statements made by some politicians in Tbilisi.

As Kapanadze noted, using this decision of so called Abkhaz Foreign Ministry, Moscow may actually jeopardize the holding of meetings in the frame of the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention and Incident Response, and the Geneva talks.

"The mandate of the EU observation mission is questioned, and it really undermines the basis of negotiations," Kapanadze said.

Experts and politicians in Tbilisi claim that a statement of Irakli Alasania a member of Bidzina Ivanishvili's coalition about the presence of illegal armed groups in Georgia suspiciously favored Moscow and Sukhumi.

The Geneva talks were convened after the armed conflict in Georgia in August 2008, in accordance with the Ceasefire Agreement dated Aug.12.

Military actions were launched in the Georgian region of South Ossetia on Aug.8, 2008. Later Russian troops occupied the city of Tskhinvali and drove the Georgian military back. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in late August.

In response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced the two unrecognised republics as occupied territories.


/Trend/