Seven years after Russian invasion

It is seven years since the outbreak of the Russian-Georgian war, when a permanent member of the UN Security Council committed an open military aggression against a neighboring independent state.

But, in reality, Russian aggression against Georgia began as long ago as in the 1990s, when, in response to Georgia’s aspiration to build an independent, democratic, and free state and to return to the European family, Russia provoked military conflicts in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), which resulted in the death of thousands of people, mass-scale ethnic cleansing, and the displacement of thousands of ethnic Georgians and other ethnicities from these regions.

After the hostilities came to a halt, Russia, formally a peacemaker that pledged to help resolve conflicts, continued to render almost openly military and economic aid to the separatist governments of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia). Concurrently, Russia never eased political and economic pressure on Georgia (in particular “energy blackmail,” including explosions of gas pipelines and power supply lines) aimed at forcing our country to change its foreign-policy vector towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration and to return into Russia’s orbit.

ON THE “GEORGIA VS. RUSSIA” CASE

The pressure reached a peak in 2006, when Russia introduced a trade embargo on the export of Georgian products and began a mass-scale illegal deportation of Georgian citizens from Russia. In this connection, having heard the “Georgia vs. Russia” case, the European Court of Human Rights handed down a ruling which confirmed numerous violations of human rights. In particular, the court ruled that, in contravention of the European Human Rights Convention, Russia expelled 4,634 citizens of Georgia, illegally detained and deported 2,380 of which three died in prison. The court obliged Russia to pay the injured parties 70.3 million euros as compensation for the abovementioned violations and moral damage.

Failing to achieve its goal with politico-economic instruments, Russia intensified its aggressive military policy, which reached its climax in early August 2008, when a well-prepared military aggression was committed against Georgia. Moscow justified the invasion it carried out with a gross violation of international law norms by an absurd claim of protecting its so-called citizens, for it had illegally issued Russian passports to residents of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia) well in advance.

On August 12, 2008, a ceasefire agreement was reached through the mediation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who acted on behalf of the European Union, which stopped further advance of the Russian troops. The agreement called for renunciation of the use of force, the halt of the hostilities, free access to humanitarian aid, the return of Georgia’s armed forces to places of permanent stationing, the withdrawal of the Russian armed forces to the positions they had held before the hostilities, and the beginning of international negotiations on security and stability in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

As a result of the five-day war, 20 percent of Georgia’s territory was occupied, dozens of Georgian villages in the Tskhinvali region were burned down, and, due to mass-scale ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population, almost 140,000 ethnic Georgians were ousted from their homes and filled the ranks of refugees and internally displaced persons.

THE RUSSIAN AGGRESSION WAS A RESPONSE TO GEORGIA’S EUROPEAN AND EURO-ATLANTIC ASPIRATIONS

In a flagrant violation of the ceasefire agreement the president of Russia had signed just two weeks before and other international accords, the Russian Federation recognized independence of Georgia’s two regions on August 26, 2008. Russia thus managed to establish full control over Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region and to “legitimize” its illegal military presence. The vast majority of the world community does not recognize the so-called independence of the occupied regions of Georgia (only Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Nauru supported Russia) and comes out for an unopposed and safe return of the refugees and internally displaced persons to their places of permanent residence.

It should be emphasized again that Russia’s large-scale military aggression against Georgia was a direct response to the latter’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations, especially after the NATO summit in Bucharest. Later, in 2011, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev declared that the Russian aggression against Georgia had been a counteraction to Georgia’s ambitions to join NATO, i.e., against our country’s sovereign option to integrate into the Euro-Atlantic community.

The report of an international fact-finding mission (known as Heidi Tagliavini Report) said that the Russian military operation in 2008 was well planned and Russian regular army units and mercenaries had illegally entered Georgia before August 8, when Georgian villages were still under fire before the actual skirmishes began. Moreover, the report confirms that “the cleansing of ethnic Georgians was carried out both during and after the conflict in August 2008.” On the whole, the report confirms that the events on the night of August 8 were part of a major conflict and the peak of a long period of growing tension, provocations, and violent incidents.

In compliance with the ceasefire agreement of August 12, October 2008 saw the beginning of Geneva-based international discussions on security, stabilization, and the return of internally displaced persons and refugees co-chaired by the EU, UN, and OSCE, with participation of US representatives. There have been 32 rounds of discussions as of today – unfortunately, without any noticeable results.

“RUSSIA CONTINUES TO FLOUT ITS COMMITMENTS”

Today, on the seventh anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war, the Russian Federation continues to flout its commitments under the ceasefire agreement of August 12, 2008. Instead of withdrawing its troops to the prewar positions, Russia has reinforced its military bases illegally stationed on the occupied territories of Georgia, by increasing the personnel strength and deploying heavy offensive weapons there, including S-300, Smerch, and Tochka-U missile systems. Taking into account the operational radius of these weapons, their deployment poses a threat not only to Georgia, but also to the entire region.

The current situation on the occupied territories is of deep concern because none of the international monitoring mechanisms has been working there since Russia vetoed the UN and OSCE Observer Mission mandates in 2009. The EU Monitoring Mission, deployed in Georgia immediately after the August war, still has no access to the territory of the occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region, as it is envisaged by its mandate. Nor are any representatives of international humanitarian organizations being allowed in there. Against this background, Georgia highly esteems the efforts of the EU Monitoring Mission which, in spite of being unable to fully fulfill its mandate, is the only international security instrument.

What also remains difficult is the humanitarian situation on the occupied territories. The Russian occupational forces began in 2011 to install barbed wire and other artificial obstacles along the occupation line in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region, and this process was given a new impetus in 2013. The overall length of the obstacles is more than 60 km now, and the process continues. The installation of artificial obstacles on the occupation line has considerably affected the local population’s everyday life. The people who live in the occupied regions and on the adjacent territories are deprived of the minimal guarantees of security, fundamental rights and freedoms, including the freedom of movement, family life, the right to education through the native language, and other civil and economic rights. These unlawful actions have denied the local population access to their farmlands and systems of drinking- and irrigation-water supply. Residents cannot go to local cemeteries or receive urgent medical aid. At some areas, a barbed wire entanglement intrudes into a territory controlled by the central government of Georgia. Moreover, the settlements and farmlands of the local population remain on the other side of the barbed wire. One of the main challenges to local residents remains detention during the crossing of the occupation line – in 2014 alone, more than 3,000 people were apprehended in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region.

ON THE SO-CALLED STATE BORDER ALONG THE OCCUPATION LINE

In addition to obstacles, the Russian occupational authorities have begun to put up information signs about the so-called “state border” along the line of occupation. The latest signs were put up in the villages of Tsitelubani, Gori municipality, and Orchosani, the occupied district of Akhalgori, while the so-called “frontier area” was extended 50-150 meters deep into the territory controlled by the government of Georgia.

By this kind of illegal actions, the Russian occupational troops established control over a considerable segment of the strategic Baku-Supsa oil pipeline (about 1,600 meters along the village of Orchosani). As for the village of Tsitelubani, it is located near another part of this pipeline at a distance of 50 m. The Baku-Supsa Western Route Export Pipeline, with a capacity of 100,000 barrels a day, is run by British Petroleum and transports oil from Azerbaijan to the Georgian Black Sea terminal Supsa. The information sign in Orchosani is in the immediate vicinity (450 m) of the main highway that connects eastern and western Georgia. The territory that is now under a new line of occupation spans for about 60 ha. As a result of this, 143 households have lost access to their farmlands and crops.

It is important to point out that Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, examined the occupation line as part of his visit to Georgia on July 20-21 this year, thus showing support for Georgia and calling Russia’s actions a dangerous provocation.

Russia continues to take other steps that amount to a creeping annexation of the occupied regions of Georgia. For example, it has signed the so-called Agreement on Alliance and Strategic Partnership with the occupational regime in Sukhumi (December 24, 2014) and the so-called Agreement on Alliance and Integration with the Tskhinvali occupational regime (March 18, 2015). Both documents, aimed against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia, in fact confirm the annexation of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region and envision their full integration into the economic, administrative, social, and, what is more, military structures of Russia.

“GEORGIA’S POLICY OF DE-ESCALATION HAS RUN INTO ANOTHER WAVE OF RUSSIAN PROVOCATIONS”

Russia is taking these actions against the backdrop of Georgia’s moves towards de-escalation and step-by-step normalization of relations with the Russian Federation.

In particular, Georgia has unilaterally undertaken not to use force, agreed to Russia’s entry to WTO, unilaterally canceled visas for Russian citizens. The prime minister of Georgia has appointed Ambassador Zurab Abashidze as special envoy for relations with Russia, which has confirmed again our political will to improve economic, cultural, and cultural ties. This has produced certain results in the development of commercial, economic, and cultural relations – Georgian products (wine, mineral waters, farm produce) have come back onto the Russian market, direct flights between Georgian and Russian cities have resumed, human contacts are on the rise, the national team of Georgia took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the government of Georgia has expressed readiness to cooperate with the Russian authorities to ensure safety during international sport events.

However, in spite of certain progress in economic and cultural relations, Georgia’s policy of de-escalation has run into another wave of Russian provocations, such as installation of barbed wire and the so-called “border signs” and signing of the agreements aimed at the final annexation of the occupied regions of Georgia.

Today, Geneva-based consultations remain the only format for settling humanitarian and security problems between Georgia and Russia. Unfortunately, Russia is not showing goodwill on the key points of the negotiations’ agenda – it refuses to make a commitment not to use force in response to a similar commitment by Georgia, hinders the talks on an international mechanism of safety on the occupied territories, and continues to politicize purely humanitarian matters – above all, the return of temporarily displaced person and refugees.

In spite of these formidable challenges, Georgia successfully continues to build a democratic and free European state and integrate into European and Euro-Atlantic organizations – it has proved this by signing the European Union Association Agreement.