Lukashenko's visit to occupied Abkhazia condemned by gov't of Georgia and international society
By Liza Mchedlidze
Friday, September 30, 2022
The Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Commission, Peter Stano has condemned Aleksandr Lukashenko's, President of Belarus' visit to occupied Abkhazia and the meeting with the so-called President of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania.
"The European Union strongly condemns the visit of Aleksandr Lukashenko to the self-proclaimed region of Georgia - Abkhazia", said Peter Stano.
According to Peter Stano, the visit is a brutal violation of international law.
"In addition to the fact that this person, Lukashenko, does not have the legitimacy to act as a head of state, this visit was made without the consent of the Georgian government, which has the only legitimate authority over the Abkhazian region. So, this visit violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and is a flagrant violation of international law. The European Union continues to confirm its strong and firm support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders", said Peter Stano.
Lukashenko's visit was condemned by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Gharibashvili, and the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili. They published relevant statements on the social network 'Twitter'.
The Ambassador of Belarus to Georgia was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia hours after the aforementioned visit and released a statement:
"The Georgian side expressed extreme concerns and asked for additional clarifications from the Belarussian side," the ministry said in a statement.
"We continue to strongly support Georgia and its territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders," said US State Department spokesman Ned Price.
Lukashenko's visit to occupied Abkhazia was also condemned by the British ambassador, Mark Clayton, as well as the ambassadors of Austria and Lithuania in Georgia.
Nikoloz Samkharadze, member of the Georgian Dream, and chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Parliament assessed the Lukashenko-Bzhania meeting as 'unacceptable'.
"Lukashenko's visit to Abkhazia yesterday is clearly a very brutal violation of Georgia's sovereignty, territorial integrity of Georgia, and all the fundamental principles of international law. Therefore, of course, this is unacceptable for us.
Along with all this, this is also a violation of the law of occupation of Georgia, so we have, of course, a very strict position regarding this issue. This is the undermining of relations between Georgia and Belarus, including diplomatic relations. Therefore, we cannot say, in this case, that relations between us and Belarus will continue and develop normally until we receive a clear and unambiguous explanation of what this so-called visit was for." said Nikoloz Samkharadze.
