MFA criticizes Russian approach after Geneva talks

On December 20, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia (MFA) Nino Kalandadze summarized the results of the 14th round of Geneva Talks which, according to Kalandadze, had been the first meeting after announcing Georgia’s peaceful initiative towards Russia. Stressing that Georgia’s partner countries had considered the initiative as the positive step it was unfortunately discouraged by Russia. “Despite the fact that the whole civilized world has been encouraging the country to make adequate steps, Russia had been absolutely unconstructive towards this issue at Geneva. Russian Government feels as if this step was not at all addressed to them thus is not worth their relevant reactions. On the contrary they are doing their best to strengthen the attempts for legitimating their authority on the so-called occupied territories by removing the occupation line deeper in Georgia,” Kalandadze said, highlighting the necessity for strengthening the international pressure and forcing Russia to follow the obligations imposed by the European Union.

Doubting the likelihood of a possible agreement between the sides, analyst Nika Chitadze shared his skeptical opinions to The Messenger. “It’s very good that Georgian officials have announced their readiness to cooperate with Russia but the latter has a different approach towards our country. Stressing they wouldn’t cooperate with Saakashvili’s regime I doubt Russia would make any peaceful steps toward solving problems with Georgia,” Chitadze said, explaining that having violated international law, Russia refrains from talking about the issue. “Russia has nothing else to do but ignore the peaceful initiatives offered by Georgia because they don’t acknowledge their fault towards our country, on the contrary, they continue accusing our country of conducting genocide against Ossetian people,” the analyst told us.

Commenting on the political developments in Belarus where Alexander Lukashenka the active President of Belarus won the elections on December 19 causing great oppositional indignation Deputy MFA, announced that Georgia was abstaining from making official comments regarding the political situation in Minsk. The opposition and their supporters protested against the results published by the CEC and the rally grew into a clash with police, which detained some candidates of opposition parties. Georgia according to Kalandadze shares interesting plans with Belorus but holding fair and democratic elections acceptable for the rest of civilized world would be the key to deepening cooperation.

The two Georgian citizens Darejan Kokhtashvili and Babutsa Gordadze, detained in Malaysia for drug trafficking on October 24, are still facing capital punishment. Members of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Interior Affairs of Georgia, met the detainees in Malaysia and shared the testimony of Eldar Davitiani, Gordadze’s husband where he claimed full responsibility for the crime. Being optimistic about the case of Gordadze, which was held yesterday, Kalandadze once again stressed that the Georgian side has been waiting for the court's decision which will be ready in January 2011. “The Malaysian side received the necessary documentation from Georgia and promised to take the materials into consideration. The court verdict will depend on the circumstances which the Malaysian judge considers truthful, not the wishes of the Georgian side,” explained the Deputy Minister.

Announcing a time-out at the MFA due to the upcoming Christmas and New Year festivities, the MFA will continue consultations with the European states from 2011. “Most of the European states have started preparing for the festivitiess thus we are refraining from planning additional visits abroad,” Kalandadze told the media.