The News in Brief
Monday, July 3
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Criticizes Georgia for NATO Partnership
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin criticized Georgia’s policies towards NATO and its occupied regions in his interview with Russian daily Izvestia newspaper published by the Russian Foreign Ministry website on June 29.
Karasin said he hoped his next meeting with Zurab Abashidze, Georgian PM’s special representative for relations with Russia, scheduled for early July, would “pass, as usually, in a business-like atmosphere,” but at the same time, he blasted Tbilisi for “getting closer” to NATO and for demonstrating “fundamental differences in the approaches towards political processes in the South Caucasus region.”
The Deputy Foreign Minister called it “regretful” that on the issue of cooperation with NATO “the position of the incumbent Georgian authorities does not differ from the position of [Mikheil] Saakashvili’s regime.”
“Three large-scale military exercises with participation of NATO member state units were held on the territory of Georgia last year. Operative military hardware transfers from Europe have been conducted for the second year already,” Karasin noted.
The Deputy Foreign Minister also mentioned the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s recent declaration on Georgia, saying it “clearly demonstrated the interest of the Alliance towards Georgia and its desire to gain its foothold in the South Caucasus.”
Grigory Karasin added that Georgia’s cooperation with NATO “acquires the forms that actually make Tbilisi part of NATO’s containment policy towards the Russian Federation.”
On Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, Karasin pointed out that Tbilisi continued to speak of the occupation of its territories by the Russian Federation, instead of “establishing good-neighborly and equal dialogue with its neighbors – Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
In the interview, Karasin also spoke of easing the visa regulations for citizens of Georgia, saying it would be “a hard task” in the absence of diplomatic relations, which was “severed upon the initiative of Georgia” and the prospects of its restoration “depends exclusively on Tbilisi as well.”
(civil.ge)
PACE to discuss dismissing its president in October
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss a proposal to dismiss its chairperson in early October after a motion was tabled on Friday.
The motion to dismiss PACE President Pedro Agramunt was backed by 158 out of the 636 member assembly.
“We, the undersigned, consider that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly no longer enjoys the confidence of the Assembly, on the grounds that his behaviour seriously harms the reputation of the Parliamentary Assembly and tarnishes its image,” the document says.
It is signed by members of five political party groups and representing 36 different countries. Among the signatories are four members of the Georgian and five members of the Armenian delegation.
None of the members of the Russian or Azerbaijani delegations backed the motion.
The proposal will be discussed at the next parliamentary session.
Agramunt caused controversy after he traveled to war-torn Syria in April and met with President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier, when Agramunt was PACE rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, human rights activists criticized him for being close to the regime in Azerbaijan, and pointed out that did little to highlight the numerous violations of human rights there.
The assembly will discuss the motion at its session in Strasbourg which starts on October 9. Until then, Agramunt will cease to chair the assembly meetings. says a news statement published on the PACE website.
(DF watch)
'If working on the constitution continues in the future, we will actively engage in it'
“If working on the constitution continues in the future, we will actively engage in it,” Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili said.
“The processes regarding the adoption of the new Constitution should not have been accelerated and pressing and such an important document should not have been drafted in few months,” Ucha Nanuashvili told InterPressNews.
The Public Defender once again emphasized that in the process of elaboration of the constitution it was important to have more time and an opportunity to reach a consensus.
“We have been saying from the very beginning that the processes regarding the adoption of the new Constitution should not have been accelerated and pressing. Such an important document should not have been drafted in few months. More time, analysis and an opportunity to reach a consensus was necessary,” said the Public Defender.
(ipn)
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin criticized Georgia’s policies towards NATO and its occupied regions in his interview with Russian daily Izvestia newspaper published by the Russian Foreign Ministry website on June 29.
Karasin said he hoped his next meeting with Zurab Abashidze, Georgian PM’s special representative for relations with Russia, scheduled for early July, would “pass, as usually, in a business-like atmosphere,” but at the same time, he blasted Tbilisi for “getting closer” to NATO and for demonstrating “fundamental differences in the approaches towards political processes in the South Caucasus region.”
The Deputy Foreign Minister called it “regretful” that on the issue of cooperation with NATO “the position of the incumbent Georgian authorities does not differ from the position of [Mikheil] Saakashvili’s regime.”
“Three large-scale military exercises with participation of NATO member state units were held on the territory of Georgia last year. Operative military hardware transfers from Europe have been conducted for the second year already,” Karasin noted.
The Deputy Foreign Minister also mentioned the NATO Parliamentary Assembly’s recent declaration on Georgia, saying it “clearly demonstrated the interest of the Alliance towards Georgia and its desire to gain its foothold in the South Caucasus.”
Grigory Karasin added that Georgia’s cooperation with NATO “acquires the forms that actually make Tbilisi part of NATO’s containment policy towards the Russian Federation.”
On Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions, Karasin pointed out that Tbilisi continued to speak of the occupation of its territories by the Russian Federation, instead of “establishing good-neighborly and equal dialogue with its neighbors – Abkhazia and South Ossetia.”
In the interview, Karasin also spoke of easing the visa regulations for citizens of Georgia, saying it would be “a hard task” in the absence of diplomatic relations, which was “severed upon the initiative of Georgia” and the prospects of its restoration “depends exclusively on Tbilisi as well.”
(civil.ge)
PACE to discuss dismissing its president in October
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will discuss a proposal to dismiss its chairperson in early October after a motion was tabled on Friday.
The motion to dismiss PACE President Pedro Agramunt was backed by 158 out of the 636 member assembly.
“We, the undersigned, consider that the President of the Parliamentary Assembly no longer enjoys the confidence of the Assembly, on the grounds that his behaviour seriously harms the reputation of the Parliamentary Assembly and tarnishes its image,” the document says.
It is signed by members of five political party groups and representing 36 different countries. Among the signatories are four members of the Georgian and five members of the Armenian delegation.
None of the members of the Russian or Azerbaijani delegations backed the motion.
The proposal will be discussed at the next parliamentary session.
Agramunt caused controversy after he traveled to war-torn Syria in April and met with President Bashar al-Assad. Earlier, when Agramunt was PACE rapporteur on political prisoners in Azerbaijan, human rights activists criticized him for being close to the regime in Azerbaijan, and pointed out that did little to highlight the numerous violations of human rights there.
The assembly will discuss the motion at its session in Strasbourg which starts on October 9. Until then, Agramunt will cease to chair the assembly meetings. says a news statement published on the PACE website.
(DF watch)
'If working on the constitution continues in the future, we will actively engage in it'
“If working on the constitution continues in the future, we will actively engage in it,” Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili said.
“The processes regarding the adoption of the new Constitution should not have been accelerated and pressing and such an important document should not have been drafted in few months,” Ucha Nanuashvili told InterPressNews.
The Public Defender once again emphasized that in the process of elaboration of the constitution it was important to have more time and an opportunity to reach a consensus.
“We have been saying from the very beginning that the processes regarding the adoption of the new Constitution should not have been accelerated and pressing. Such an important document should not have been drafted in few months. More time, analysis and an opportunity to reach a consensus was necessary,” said the Public Defender.
(ipn)