Thea Tsulukiani, the Georgian Vice Prime Minister, on Thursday said the Government’s legal fight against Russia in international courts was part of its policy to reintegrate the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions peacefully.
In her press comments, the official stressed the Government's “irreversible” stance on peaceful reintegration since it took office in 2012, noting the domestic public would “never tolerate” occupation, annexation or loss of the territories.
She noted the Government had ensured legal victories against Russia in the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court in cases on circumstances before, during and after the 2008 war between the two countries, adding the outcomes would benefit the Government's peaceful approach to the regions.
[The regions] must and will be reintegrated only peacefully”, Tsulukiani noted.
Hailing Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s messages at the European Political Community Summit in Moldova on Thursday as “the best”, Tsulukiani said the Government head had presented himself as a “proud leader of a proud country” that had regained its independence in the 1990s “at the cost of blood” before building its sovereignty and was striving for membership in the European Union.
She also highlighted the Government was working on the implementation of the 12-point conditions outlined by the bloc last year for granting its membership candidate status to Georgia, with the decision expected in December.
Tsulukiani claimed the public and the country “deserve” a positive decision on the membership status “both in case of a merit-based, and a political decision” by EU bodies.
“We are looking forward with great patience to the day when the bloc will make the only right decision on the status”, the Vice PM said, noting it was “important” the PM had received verbal support on the status from Western partners while in Moldova.