2 October 2008 - NATO PA President José Lello “profoundly concerned” by Russian actions in Georgia

Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili (left) and NATO PA President, José Lello (right)

President Lello was speaking on his return from leading a visit to Georgia by a group of senior Assembly members on 30 September and 1 October.  The members met a variety of Georgian governmental and parliamentary leaders including President Mikheil Saakashvili and parliamentary speaker David Bakradze.

In addition to holding meetings in Tbilisi, the group visited Gori to witness the aftermath of the August conflict and observed Russian checkpoints at the “buffer zones” established by Russian forces around South Ossetia.

“Our meetings in Tbilisi were extremely useful and gave a very clear picture of the events leading up to the August conflict and of the many challenges Georgia now faces as a consequence of that conflict”, said Mr Lello.  “I remain convinced, even more convinced, that Russia ’s action was disproportionate and that its actions are in violation of UN, OSCE and Council of Europe commitments. I applaud the EU-negotiated ceasefire agreement, but we must wait to see whether Russia is genuinely committed to that agreement.”

President Lello then recounted the group’s experience at Akhalgori where members witnessed a standoff between Russian forces and those of the Georgian interior ministry.  Russian forces had advanced from their checkpoint to a Georgian position and told the Georgian forces to withdraw.

“When we arrived, the situation was very tense.  The Russian soldiers were inside the Georgian position and Georgian forces were waiting for orders to withdraw or stay in place.  Meanwhile, additional Russian forces moved forward from their checkpoint up to the Georgian position.  This was on Wednesday 1 October, the day that EU observers were deployed and Russian forces should have been preparing to vacate their buffer zones by 10 October. What we saw was a further advance of the Russian positions.  This can only be viewed with profound concern.”

“I sincerely hope that Russia will comply with the ceasefire agreement it has signed, and that it will participate in good faith in the international discussions scheduled to begin in Geneva later this month.  We will all be following developments closely.  Discussion of the situation will be a central feature in the Assembly’s annual session taking place in Valencia from 14 to 18 November.  I hope that by then we will have more reason to be optimistic about Russia ’s respect for its international obligations.”

The participants in the visiting group were:

José LELLO (Portugal), President

Karl A. LAMERS (Germany ), Vice-President

Jan PETERSEN (Norway ), Vice President

Michael CLAPHAM (United Kingdom ), Chairman, Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security

Julio MIRANDA CALHA (Portugal ), Chairman, Defence and Security Committee

Assen AGOV (Bulgaria ), Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Transatlantic Relations

Michael MATES (United Kingdom ), Chairman  Science and Technology Committee

Jean-Michel BOUCHERON (France ), Chairman, Mediterranean and Middle East Special Group

David HOBBS, Secretary General

Meetings also took place with George BARAMIDZE, Vice-Prime Minister of Georgia and State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration; Eka TKESHELASHVILI, Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs;  Alexander LOMAIA, Secretary of the Security Council of Georgia; and Temur IAKOBASHVILI, Georgian State Minister for Reintegration.  The group also met several other governmental and parliamentary figures, including members of opposition parties.  The visited was hosted by Nikoloz RURUA, Deputy Chairman of the Defence and Security Committee, the Head of Georgian delegation to NATO PA.

Assembly President, José Lello (second from Left) andMr Giorgi Targamadze, President of the Defence and Security Committee of the Georgian Parliament (centre) speak with Russian soldiers posted at the Russian checkpoint at Akhalgori.