It would be good for the current Georgian authorities to know the long history of relations with the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Georgian politicians who are swaying the internal political situation and leading to an aggravation of relations with Russia, to recall the history and gave advice on how to improve relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
“These anti-Russian sentiments are inflated in Georgia by those people who either don’t know anything or know but ignore. And ultimately harm Georgia itself and its people,” Putin told reporters in Yekaterinburg.
Putin has reminded that Ossetia became part of the Russian Empire in the second half of the XVIII century as an independent state, Abkhazia also entered the Russian Empire as a principality.
"Later, events began to take place within the framework of a single state: the southern part of Ossetia entered Tiflis province, there was no Georgia. Abkhazia (...), when the Russian Empire collapsed after the First World War, was subjected to an absorption attempt by Georgia and with the help of German troops in 1918, Georgia occupied Abkhazia, "Putin said, adding that the occupiers behaved very harshly.
"The Georgian troops acted even tougher in Ossetia in 1919-1920," he added.
As Putin stressed, "all this is exactly what is today called genocide."
"It would be good for the current Georgian authorities to know all this and not to forget about it, if today's Georgian authorities want to improve relations with the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," Putin said.
He has also reminded that in the period of the Soviet Union "the first treaty-based Abkhazian Socialist Republic was formed, which included today's Georgia." He has added that during the Stalin`s time this situation changed - Abkhazia became part of the Socialist Republic of Georgia.
“It is strange, but our human rights activists never pay attention to the fact that, by the orders of Stalin, the NKVD and Beria took very tough measures against the Abkhaz in order to absorb this territory and the Abkhaz people,” Putin continued.
According to him, "this heavy legacy was not just taken into account, but ignored by one of the first presidents of the modern Georgia, when he abolished any autonomy at all - both Adzharia and Abkhazia." "All this led to an explosion and a fratricidal war," the President stated.
“I said at one time to Saakashvili: in no case unleash any military actions against Abkhazia or South Ossetia, the same I said to the Americans. No, they went there with the war. The result is known. Russia was simply forced to recognize the independence of these republics and protect the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia ", - said Putin.
