Comment of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia expresses concerns over the statement of Mikhail Saakashvili, which he made on January 25, live on channel Pervi Informatsioni Kavkazski.
When speaking in the European parliament recently, Saakashvili announced his peaceful intentions and refusal to use military force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Now, he says that "war is not over." The recent visit of Mikhail Saakashvili to Washington and his meeting with U.S. senators who promised to "provide Georgia with defensive weaponry in order to enable it to defend against Russian occupiers" also does not comply with his statement that Georgia would not use force to resolve conflicts, moreover that the same statement, word for word, Saakashvili made a few hours before the start of the military aggression of Georgia in August 2008.
Leaving the insulting tone and assaults against Russia to the conscience of the Georgian leader, we once again have to pay attention to the absolutely unjustified use of the expression "Georgian territory occupied by Russia." The Republic of South Ossetia is a recognized state, its territory in no way should be considered as "occupied Georgian territory." Russian troops are implementing their mission in South Ossetia on the basis of the relevant bilateral agreements and they are the guarantors of non-resumption of hostilities with Georgia.
Saakashvili can not calm down, but one thing is certain, that all his convulsive action is aimed at finding new sources of irritation and is not in the interests of the Georgian people. It can only lead to additional problems.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia considers that the Georgian leadership should not seek for some "external enemy", but focus on solving social and economic problems within the country. The statement of Mikhail Saakashvili that for Georgia the war is not over show a complete lack of sense of proportion verging on carelessness.
Any "solemn promise" of the Georgian leadership can be taken seriously only after these promises have a legal force. It is high time to move from declarations of such intention to signing of a legally binding agreement on the nonuse of force by Georgia. However, the Georgian President's repeated wording about "occupied territories", his threats and insulting tone, in fact, exclude the possibility to resume political dialogue with him.
