6 Western Nations Demand Russia Return Two Regions It Took From Neighboring Georgia 15 Years Ago

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Six Western nations marked the fifteenth anniversary of Russia’s takeover of 20% of Georgia’s territory by demanding on Thursday that Moscow return the South Ossetia and Abkhazia areas.

The assertion, following closed council consultations on Georgia, mentioned the six nations “are resolute” in reaffirming the nation’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity “inside its internationally acknowledged borders.”

In August 2008, Russia fought a quick warfare with Georgia, which had made a botched try to regain management over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Moscow then acknowledged the independence of South Ossetia and one other breakaway Georgian province, Abkhazia, and arrange army bases there.

The assertion, learn by Albanian Ambassador Ferit Hoxha exterior the Safety Council surrounded by diplomats from the 5 different nations, condemned Russia’s “brutal invasion” and continued occupation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and its “steps towards annexation of those Georgian areas.”

The Western nations additionally reiterated their condemnation of Moscow for “steady provocations which go in parallel with the Russian Federation’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression towards Ukraine.”

They pointed to Russia’s continued army drills in Georgia’s territory, sea and airspace in addition to its erection of barbed wire fences and different limitations, its illegal detentions and abductions of native individuals, discrimination towards ethnic Georgians, and deliberate harm to Georgian cultural heritage.

The six nations mentioned the Russia-Georgia battle ought to be resolved peacefully based mostly on worldwide regulation, together with the U.N. Constitution, which requires each nation’s territorial integrity be acknowledged, “additionally noting the context of Russia’s ongoing aggression towards Ukraine.”

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, known as the Western assertion “hypocrisy” in a tweet, saying Georgia misplaced territory due to a “reckless gamble.”

“However the Russophobic West shouldn’t be pleased and attempting to drive the wedge between us at any value,” he mentioned. “This assertion is a transparent illustration of this.”

Polyansky known as the state of affairs “particularly sickening and hypocritical” understanding that Ukraine turned “anti-Russia” in 2014, when Moscow annexed Crimea. He mentioned Ukraine “is being sacrificed proper now by the U.S. and its allies for Western geopolitical pursuits in a futile NATO proxy warfare towards Russia till the final Ukrainian.”

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