Georgian FM addresses PACE as CoE chair: international pressure on Russia must continue
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani addressed PACE and answered the questions of MEPs late yesterday. Photo: Foreign Ministry press office.
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Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani has delivered his first speech at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) as the head of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), stating that consolidated, international pressure against Russian illegal activities in Georgia and other countries must continue.
Situation in the Russian-occupied Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali has become worse. Actual annexation and the occupation of Georgian territories by Russia continues,” Zalkaliani said late yesterday.
Zalkaliani stated that “strengthening international pressure on the country which carries out the effective control of Georgian regions, which is Russia, is essential.”
We must not turn a blind eye to the illegal activities of Russia as it will further encourage occupation and illegality by the country,” Zalkaliani said.
Zalkaliani mentioned the release of Georgian doctor Vazha Gaprindashvili from Tskhinvali prison, stating that the release of the doctor from illegal detention was made possible with the support of the international community.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili will address PACE later today.
Former Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze, who resigned during the June protests in Tbilisi last year, has been elected vice president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) earlier today, during the first day of the winter session.
60-year-old woman Tamar Gigauri fell into a well of seven meters deep in Georgia’s Russian- occupied Akhalgori district yesterday, but the Tskhinvali occupation regime is not allowing her family to transfer the woman to a Tbilisi hospital. Ketevan Tsikhelashvili, Georgian Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality, urged all decision-making bodies to guide by humanitarian principles and not to endanger the health of the injured woman from Akhalgori region.
Georgian Foreign Ministry David Zalkaliani has stated that the humanitarian crisis in Georgia’s Russian-occupied regions [of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali] is one of the major challenges for the government, responding to the recent death of a woman in Tskhinvali due to the closed ‘checkpoint” with the breakaway region. He again raised the issue while meeting with the US Department of States Special Envoy and Coordinator of the Global Engagement Center Lea Gabrielle earlier today.
EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell says that the death of 70-year-old Margo Martiashvili, who suffered a stroke in the Russian-occupied Akhalgori district and was unable to be transported to the Tbilisi-administered territory because of the closed “checkpoints” with Tskhinvali, is “tragic, and we are doing our best for the crossing points to be reopened.”
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has stated at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that the next stage for Georgia is to become a full member of the international community by having a voice in global issues. She stated earlier today in Strasbourg that “Georgia has succeeded to turn itself from a post-soviet state, into an emerging, ever stronger and vibrant democracy.” She stated earlier today in Strasbourg that “Georgia has succeeded to turn itself from a post-soviet state, into an emerging, ever stronger and vibrant democracy.”
Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) Marija Pejcinovic Buric said at a news briefing with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili in Strasbourg earlier today that Georgia’s presidency of the CoE Committee of Ministers “is progressing well”. "I welcome all the works done by Georgia to promote and strengthen our values and standards and to raise awareness of the Council of Europe in the country but also in the South Caucasus area as a whole”, she stated.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, who is visiting Vienna as the Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, met with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger earlier today. Greminger said after the meeting that there is a close partnership between the OSCE and the CoE in a number of defined areas.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani says that the restoration of relations with Russia is possible only after the country withdraws its forces from Georgian territory.