Georgia Condemns Nauru President’s Visit to Abkhazia

(TBILISI) – Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned a recent visit by the President of the tiny Pacific island nation of Nauru to Georgia’s Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia, calling it “a blatant violation of international law.”

“The Foreign Ministry has immediately informed the international community over the illegal visit of Baron Waqa to Abkhazia,” the Ministry reported on Tuesday.

Georgia’s Foreign Ministry underscored that Nauru, Venezuela and Nicaragua are the only nations, which recognize Georgia’s occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states, “either by complete ignorance” of international legislation or “pressure from Moscow.”

“The international community will never tolerate Russia’s attempts to achieve recognition for Georgia’s historic lands as independent republics,” the Ministry said, while reiterating that any country that comes under the influence of Russia to take illegal steps towards recognizing the rebel republics would face permanent international pressure until they come into line with international law.

Nauru’s President visited Abkhazia on November 12 and spoke about political and economic pressure from the US after they recognized Abkhazia, Abkhaz state-run media reported.

“In addition to pressure from the US and Georgia, these countries also wanted to bribe us. To us, this looked like blackmail. But we stated we would not change our mind regarding the issue,” state-run Russian news agency Sputnik quoted Waqa as saying.

In May this year, US President Donald Trump signed an act that declares Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Russian-occupied territories belonging to Georgia.

The act prohibits financial support for countries which recognize the two regions as independent republics and also says that US representatives in international financial institutions are prohibited from supporting programs that violate Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.