The messenger logo

The non-aggression document and what it means

By Messenger Staff
Friday, July 3
The 6th round of Geneva talks has just been ended. Their main issue was the possibility of concluding a non-aggression agreement between Russia and Georgia, something promoted by Moscow for quite a time. Russia insists that Tbilisi has refused to sign such an agreement and this demonstrates that it is an aggressor. These allegations are completely false and the Kremlin has absolutely no intention of preventing a future war. Its aim is to force Georgia to conclude such agreements with the Sokhumi and Tskhinvali puppet regimes, thus putting the legally-recognised sovereign state of Georgia and its obedient dupes in the breakaway regions on the same level. This would mean Georgia indirectly recognised the “new reality” and new “sovereign states” Russia had created. Russia’s intention is to cheat the world, just as it did by insisting on opening separate observer missions for the OSCE in Tskhinvali and UNOMIG in Sokhumi.

Moscow, Sokhumi and Tskhinvali, know perfectly well that Georgia will not start a war or conduct any military aggression but they try to manipulate the facts and disguise their own wicked plans. For once, however, this has not worked. Georgia’s position at Geneva frustrated Russia’s imperialistic aspirations. As is known President Saakashvili signed a ceasefire agreement in August 2008 right after the Medvedev-Sarkozy agreement was concluded. But the Moscow-backed separatist leaders still demand that new documents are signed between them and Tbilisi. “We’ll continue participating in the negotiations to force Georgia to sign this document,” the so-called Foreign Minister of the Tskhinvali puppet regime has stated.

Meanwhile the Russian propaganda machine is continually saying that Georgian military forces and police are concentrating at “the border with Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” presumably to start a new war (?!). In parallel to this the Russian Foreign Ministry states that under the circumstances it is very important to conclude a non-aggression agreement with Sokhumi and Tskhinvali. The only way to expose the Russian lies is to consult the international observers from the EU who are permanently monitoring the situation on the Georgian side of administrative border. They repeatedly state that only Georgian police units, not soldiers, are present in the border region. However no one can monitor and observe the situation inside the administrative borders, in the areas controlled by the separatists and Russians, as no foreign observers from either the EU or other bodies are allowed to enter them.

Russia’s plans have clear aims. On one hand it tries to legitimize its puppet regimes and on the other it tries to convince the world that there was no Russian-Georgian war at all, only a conflict between Georgia and the separatist regimes. However at Geneva Tbilisi took a firm and principled position. It stated that it is ready to sign a non-aggression document with Russia but not with the separatist regimes. Moreover Tbilisi is prepared to sign this document as soon as Moscow removes its forces from the occupied territories and substitutes them with an international police force which can facilitate the return of IDPs. Of course Moscow does not accept such conditions but they are fair and just. Russia will now have to explain to the world why its country of over 200 million people is unwilling to sign a non-aggression agreement with tiny Georgia, population of about 3 to 4 million, which could not conduct an aggression against Russia if it tried through sheer lack of numbers.

The 7th round of Geneva negotiations with be held in September but before that two hot months are ahead of us. They will certainly be hot meteorologically but hopefully not from a political point of view.