Denis Gonchart, Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS countries, considers the imperative of regular contacts between Tbilisi, Sukhum and Tskhinval obviousMOSCOW, December 10.
/tass/. Provocative calls for Georgia to open a "second front" against Russia are heard from Kiev and certain Western countries, which makes the imperative of regular contacts between Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia obvious. This was stated in an interview with TASS by Denis Gonchar, director of the fourth Department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Answering the question about the relevance of the format of the Geneva discussions on Transcaucasia, Gonchar noted that Moscow proceeds from their increasing need in the changing geopolitical situation. "The imperative of regular contacts between the official representatives of Tbilisi, Sukhum and Tskhinval becomes obvious against the background of provocative calls from Kiev and some Western capitals to the Georgian authorities to open a "second front" against Russia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia," the diplomat said.
He pointed out that under the current conditions, the issues promoted by Moscow and its Abkhaz and South Ossetian allies are developing a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force by Georgia against Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as the delimitation of the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian state borders and their subsequent demarcation.
Gonchar also expressed regret that the co-chairs of the Geneva discussions from the UN, OSCE and the European Union could not ensure the restoration of the previous working rhythm of the format in 2022.
"Instead of announcing the date of the next - December - round, the troika of international experts decided to put the discussions on pause again, this time until February 2023," he explained. - Moreover, both at the beginning of this year and now the co-chairs made these decisions behind the scenes, without consultations with all participants. And this is despite the fact that most of the national delegations, including the Russian one, were ready to gather for regular meetings, including at the end of this year, which the organizers were well aware of. As a result, only one round took place in 2022 instead of the usual four."
"Despite the lack of clear explanations, we clearly see the true background of what is happening: our colleagues from Washington and Brussels were tempted to bring geopolitics to the Transcaucasian direction," the head of the Foreign Ministry department stressed.
The previous 56th round of discussions took place on October 4-5 after a long break. At it, the Georgian side refused to have a dialogue on the topic of the document on international guarantees of the non-use of force. Abkhazia expressed concern about the ongoing build-up of Georgia's military-technical potential with the direct support of the United States and other NATO countries, joint military exercises conducted on the territory of Georgia under the auspices of NATO, and confirmed its interest in resuming the work of the Mechanism for Preventing and Responding to Incidents in the city of Gal.
International discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia have been held in Geneva since 2008 with the participation of Abkhazia, Russia, Georgia, South Ossetia and the United States with the mediation of special representatives from the UN, EU and OSCE. The work is traditionally carried out in two working groups - on security and on humanitarian issues. The Geneva discussions remain the only platform for dialogue between Sukhum, Tskhinval and Tbilisi.
The full text of the interview will be published at 11:30 Moscow time.
