Georgian president “strongly condemns” de facto Abkhaz president’s visit to Minsk

Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili on Tuesday “strongly condemned” recent “official visit” of Aslan Bzhania, the de facto president of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, to Belarus. 

Zourabichvili tweeted following Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko’s visit to the de facto region last year, “which disregarded the Georgian Law on Occupied Territories, this constitutes another blatant violation of Georgia’s  sovereignty and territorial integrity”. 

Bzhania’s visit to Minsk came as part of his trip to Russia that began on February 14, with domestic media outlets claiming the visit could be related to the region’s status. 

However, the de facto president’s administration has rejected such reports as “fake”, claiming the visit concerned “bilateral ties”. 

Russia recognized two Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) as independent states following its war with Georgia in 2008. 

Only Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Syria have joined the illegal recognition so far. The rest of the international community is unanimous that the regions are occupied by Russia, constituting 20 percent of the country’s territory.