Georgia’s Foreign Minister criticizes Russia at UN
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Wednesday, March 4
Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili spoke about Russian aggression and the poor situation with regard to human rights issues in the occupied regions of Georgia, while addressing the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on March 2.
The foreign minister appealed to Russia to stop its aggressive policies against sovereign states and said that Moscow’s activities in Ukraine are not an isolated case.
“Today we face a situation when the universally-recognized principles and norms of international law are being abused by one of the HRC [Human Rights Council] member states and a permanent member of the UN Security Council,” Beruchashvili said.
She stressed that Russia’s aggression against Ukraine should be adequately responded to by the whole international community.
“Ukraine is not an isolated case, but rather part of Russia’s attempt to expand its zones of influence by hampering the sovereign right of nations to decide their future,” the Georgian Foreign Minister said.
“A clear example of such policy is Russia’s military aggression against Georgia in 2008 and the subsequent occupation of twenty-percent of our territories,” she said.
The diplomat stressed that Russia continues its aggressive policy against Georgia and signing the treaties on alliance with the de-facto regions was a good example of it.
“This is Russia’s annexation policy,” she said, emphasizing that Russia violates fundamental human rights in terms of Georgia.
Berushashvili claimed that the current Georgian authorizes do their best to adhere to the international legislation with regard to human rights and other fields promoting Georgia’s European future.
Meanwhile, the opposition United National Movement accuses the government of hypocrisy.
They say that while making pro-Western statements, the current state leaders are sending positive messages to Russia, do not reject a meeting format between Georgian and Russian special envoys and refrain from making strong statements against the occupant.
