Russia’s official position on Zaza Gakheladze’s kidnapping by occupation forces

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Friday, July 17

Russia says it’s ‘concerned’ by Georgia’s ‘provocative actions at borders’ with occupied Tskhinvali, Abkhazia.

On July 9th, the Foreign Ministry continued, another Georgian citizen was also detained “on the territory of the Republic of Dagestan, this time deep inside the Russian territory – 9 km away from the border.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes a statement, in its estimation, about Georgian citizens violating the border. Most of the text is dedicated to Zaza Gakheladze, who was detained by the occupation forces on July 11th. The Russian Foreign Ministry describes the circumstances of the arrest and accuses Tbilisi of staging the play.

The official Russian version of Zaza Gakheladze reads as follows: “He joined a group of Russian border guards operating under an agreement between Russia and the Republic of South Ossetia, which provides for the joint protection of the South Ossetian border since April 30, 2009. He tried to hide and fired about 10 shots at Russian servicemen. He was lightly wounded during the return fire. The offender was given first aid, after which he was placed in a hospital and is still there.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry points out that Gakheladze admitted the fact in his testimony and deliberately crossed the border into South Ossetia.

As the ministry notes, sometimes, despite such serious provocative violations and the Russian side's intention to resolve the issue as non-politicized and flexible as possible, “unfortunately, Tbilisi is once again trying to stage a political spectacle by shifting the responsibility to others.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry then “urged the Georgian authorities to put an end to provocative actions and statements, use all available dialogue formats with Russia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia,” including the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM), Geneva International Discussions and the so-called informal Karasin – Abashidze meetings, “to solve existing problems in a mutually beneficial constructive manner.”

Moscow also slammed “the provocative comments of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, which, in the manner that has become traditional for the Americans, without understanding the essence of what is happening, fence off their Georgian proteges and put all the blame on Moscow and Tskhinvali.” This, Russian Foreign Ministry maintained, undermines the position of the U.S. as an impartial participant in GID.

Zaza Gakheladze, 33, a resident of Kvemochala, went to Skhvilo Castle with a friend from Samtavisi on the morning of July 11 to pick mushrooms. A friend fell behind on the road, while Zaza continued on his way across the castle. It is a long distance from the castle to the occupied village of Akhmaja and the people of Kvemochala have been there many times. Suddenly, representatives of the occupation forces appeared and opened fire in the direction of Gakheladze. His friend, who was behind, managed to escape, but Gakheladze was injured in the leg and could not move. The so-called guards arrested him and took him in the direction of Akhalgori.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia condemns the wounding and illegal detention of a Georgian citizen in the Kaspi municipality by the Russian occupation forces. The agency calls this fact a dangerous act and notes that the aim is to escalate the situation during the pandemic and destabilize it.

“Opening fire towards the local peaceful population by the occupation is yet another example of Russian Federation violating, EU-brokered cese-fire Agreement reached on August 12, 2008,” the statement said.

US State Department spokesman Morgan Ortagus responded to the wounding and arrest of Gakheladze, on his Twitter page, writing that the United States condemns the incident and demands the immediate release of the detainee.

The United States Embassy in Georgia also responded to the fact on July 12th. The embassy assessed the shooting and arrest of a Georgian citizen as a provocative act aimed at aggravating the situation and demanded the immediate release of Gakheladze.

“Such a sharp reaction from Russia is, first of all, a response to our action, to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which we immediately made about the illegal detention, wounding and transfer of Gakheladze to Tskhinvali,” Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said in response to the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The Minister explains that the issue of Gakheladze's abduction was one of the main topics of all the meetings held in Brussels, both at the NATO-Georgia Commission and the European Commission and the European Parliament. Official Tbilisi is already waiting for sharp assessments in the format of the OSCE Permanent Council.

According to Zalkaliani, the irritation of the Russian Federation was caused by international mobilization.

“At our initiative, this issue is being discussed in the format of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, where we are also waiting for very harsh statements from the EU and other partner countries.” Zalkaliani said, adding that this puts Russia in a position of self-righteousness, and their irritation, aggressive tone and attempt to shift focus to another direction is seen in their statement.

According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Russia continues to use all the levers at its disposal even during a pandemic to prevent the peaceful development of Georgia.