Stoltenberg: “I call on Russia to reverse its recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia”
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, February 15
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on Russia to reverse its recognition of the independence of Georgia’s de facto regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The Alliance top official made the statement in Brussels on February 11 during the NATO-Georgia Commission meeting.
"I call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia as independent states,” Stoltenberg said.
"Georgia is an independent, sovereign nation with internationally recognised borders. Yet Russia continues to violate those borders.
“Every member of the Alliance fully supports Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognised borders. We call on Russia to reverse its recognition of the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions of Georgia as independent states. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are part of Georgia,” the Secretary General said and added that NATO appreciated Georgian reforms and was committed to supporting the country's path towards membership in the Alliance.
After the Commission meeting, Georgia’s Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli said that Georgia gained “very high assessments” from all North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members and concrete offers from them to empower Georgia’s defence field.
Khidasheli stressed that she also raised the issue of creating Georgia-NATO Substantial Package trust fund she hoped to be accepted shortly.
“The initiative has been welcomed by all attendees of the Georgia-NATO Commission meeting,” Khidasheli said.
Khidasheli stated that until now, only 20 NATO members were supporting the implementation of the Substantial Package.
“We have now received offers from all 28 member states and concrete initiatives on how they will encourage our self-defence capabilities, intelligence services, navy and aviation directions and so on.
“We were promised that Georgia should wait for more NATO facilitators and instructors, which is the main task of such meetings,” Khidasheli stated.
