The de facto Foreign Minister of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, Inal Ardzinba, has agreed with the position of Moscow to change the location for the international format of discussions on Georgia’s conflict issues which has been held in Geneva since the Russia-Georgia 2008 war.
Ardzinba shared the position that the discussions should be held in a “more neutral place,” and that its format “should not be as politically active as it is now.”
"Geneva discussions are currently suspended not by our initiative, but by the initiative of Georgia and Western countries. We propose the changed format of the discussions which would offer equal working opportunities and conditions,” said Ardzinba earlier this week, during a meeting with the new Russian “ambassador to Abkhazia,” Mikhail Shurgalin.
A few weeks ago, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, raised the initiative over the changes in the international format of discussions.
The 56th round of international discussions in Geneva, scheduled for March 20-30, 2022, was postponed due to the situation created by the war in Ukraine.
Despite this, the co-chairs of Geneva Discussions held meetings with the parties in Tbilisi, Sokhumi and Tskhinvali.
The Geneva International Discussions are held under the co-chairmanship of the European Union, the United Nations and the OSCE. Georgia, Russia and the USA, as well as representatives of de facto Tskhinvali and Abkhazia participate in the meetings.
Non-use of force is one of the main issues of the talks.
Georgia has already made a unilateral condition of non-use of force and demanded the same from Russia.
However, Russia says that it is not part of the conflict and calls on Tbilisi to sign the agreement with de facto authorities which would mean the recognition of the occupied regions as independent states.
Russia recognized two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent states after the Russia-Georgia 2008 war. Since then only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have joined Russia in the illegal move, while the rest of the international community is unanimous that the regions are occupied.
