The government of the
Though there were rather justified
alternative ideas in that regard, the Georgian authorities chose the policy of
cooperation based on relationship with Russia, as exemplified by the attempts
to position tripartite peacekeeping forces in the Tskhinvali region and to
settle the Abkhazian conflict politically, which was reflected in the document
adopted as a result of the talks held in Moscow on September 3. Unfortunately,
that initiative of the Georgian side did not bring any desired results. Despite
the fact that the agreement of September 3 was signed by the Russian President,
it was followed by rough interference in
The violent policy cannot be justified by
statements about protecting the Russian-speaking population. The
Russian-speaking population in
The Georgian side is aware of numerous
facts that confirm immediate involvement of Russian armed forces in the
conflict on the side of the extremist separatists. Here are only some of the
facts:
On February 2 and 9 1992 the Russian army
immediately participated in the shelling of Sukhumi and populated areas around
it, laying the bombs directly on the area of the Sukhumi market, which killed
13 innocent civilians, including ethnic Russians;
On October 5 the Russian armed forces shot
down MI-24, a helicopter of the Georgian armed forces;
On October 13 they shot down a Georgian
aircraft SU-25;
At 18:40 on November 5 two Russian SU-25
aircraft opened fire on a Georgian battalion at the River Gumista;
At 18:45 on November 15 positions of the
Georgian military units and military police located on the River Gumista were
air-attacked.
At 13:15 on November 18 civilians were
killed by an air attack on settlement Kulasuri.
At 18:00 on December 4 two Su-25 aircraft
launched air strikes against the Georgian armed forced on the Gumista and on
settlement Tskhenistskali.
On December 10 Russian aviation shelled
village Akhaldaba in Ochamchire District where no military operations were
going on. The attack killed 11 citizens.
There was also a notorious attack on the helicopter
of the head of the state in October this year.
A ceasefire agreement was achieved at the
end of November 1992, which was strictly fulfilled by the Georgian side and
stipulated withdrawal of the Russian armed forces from the city of
It was the Eshera laboratory area from which
the
Russian military air and naval forces
control the sea and air in the conflict area, which promotes smuggling of large
quantities of arms into the region. All these facts are a rough violation of
basic requirements of both international and Georgian law.
The Georgian side has repeatedly stated and
confirms today that it would not interfere with transportation of humanitarian
goods to Tkvareli provided that they were would be at the Sukhumi airport, since
arms, ammunitions and armed mercenaries are transported from Gudauta with direct
assistance of the Russian air forces. This requirement has been systematically
violated, so the opposite side should have the full responsibility for the
tragedy that happened after the crashing of Russian military helicopter MI-8.
Consideration should be also given to the fact that the crash site is located
at a distance of over 20 km from the zone controlled by the Georgian side.
It is apparent that the Russian armed
forces deployed in Abkhazia have become a side in the conflict that together
with the separatists who they have armed and with Russian reactionary political
circles implement an imperial policy for disrupting Georgia’s territorial
integrity. These military units even do not obey the former Transcaucasian
Command that the Georgian side has had and will try to have civilized relations
with.
Russians have made it a rule to blame
Even in the difficult situation of today, the
government of the
The situation is aggravated by mass media.
Certain groups seem to be interested in further escalation of the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict.
Following from the above, the Georgian
Parliament demands that the Russian armed forced would immediately withdraw
from the conflict area.
The latest Russian-Georgian relations
apparently confirm that the aggressive factor increases in the Russian
politics, which causes a danger to the stability not only in the
If these political attitudes of mind won in
It should be also noted that during preparation
of the agreement package the Russian side tries to conduct the talks from the
position of strength, taking advantage of the hard economic and political
situation in
In the situation of unprecedented
interference in
In this regard, the Parliament of Georgia
will get back to the issue of practicability of the Russian-Georgian relations
later on, depending on the Russian authorities’ attitude to the state
sovereignty of
A critical condition for building good
neighborly relations between the two states would be immediate termination by
(Bulletins of the
Parliament of Georgia, ##. 1-4, 1992-1993, pp. 280-284/Translation from Georgian))