Russia calls for ‘demarcation of Georgia–Abkhazia and Georgia–South Ossetia borders’

Russia has called for the borders between South Ossetia and Abkhazia and Georgian Government controlled territories to be delineated.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 62nd round of the international discussion on security and stability in the South Caucasus was held in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Wednesday that the process of ‘delimitation of the Georgian–Abkhazian and Georgian–South Ossetian state borders with their subsequent demarcation’ should be launched.

‘The Russian side emphasised the importance of translating the conciliatory signals coming from Tbilisi into achievable terms. In practice, this means securing and developing them in concrete steps, including, first of all, Georgia’s acceptance of legally binding guarantees on the non-use of force against the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia’, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

The Geneva discussions were set up to address the consequences of the August 2008 War, and are co-chaired by the EU, OSCE, and UN. The talks involve Georgian, Russian, Abkhazian, and South Ossetian negotiators, as well as the US.

The Russian foreign ministry was apparently reacting to a number of statements made by the ruling party concerning Abkhazia and South Ossetia in recent months.

In September, Georgian Dream founder Bidzina Ivanishvili promised to ‘apologise’ to South Ossetians for the actions of the previous government, prompting anger and condemnation from relatives of soldiers killed during the 2008 August War.

In August, 16 years after the war’s end, the ruling Georgian Dream party accused the formerly ruling United National Movement (UNM) party of starting and provoking the war, vowing again to punish the opposition after October’s parliamentary elections.

[Read more: Anger in Georgia after Ivanishvili vows to apologise to South Ossetians for 2008 War]

The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that Georgia had ‘admitted’ to the ‘presence’ in the country and in nearby areas of ‘political forces that are hatching plans to open a “second front” against Russia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia’.

In recent months, Georgian Dream officials have claimed with increasing frequency that a secret cabal, known as the ‘Global War Party’, is controlling the West and attempting to sow conflict around the world.  

In public speeches, including at a government rally in April, Ivanishvili alleged that this nebulous party is seeking to push Georgia to open a ‘second front’ in the war against Russia.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry stated on Thursday that the Georgian delegation to the talks emphasised the need to fulfil the 12 August 2008 cease-fire agreement, signed by Russia with the mediation of the EU.

They said the return of people forcibly displaced during the war was the ‘main issue’ on the agenda at the Geneva discussions.

Tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians were driven out of their homes in South Ossetia during the war.

‘During the negotiations, the Georgian delegation focused on the difficult situation created in terms of security, humanitarian and human rights in the occupied regions and on the destructive actions of the occupation regimes’, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

They said ‘representatives of the occupation regime […] left the negotiation table’ when they raised the topic.

Russia said that they as well as representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia ‘raised the issue of moving the discussions from Geneva to another place acceptable to all participants and demanded a substantive discussion of this topic’.

Russia has claimed that Switzerland has lost its neutral status after joining EU sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Earlier, representatives of the UN, OSCE, and the EU at the talks came out against moving the talks from Geneva to another country.

The next round of Geneva negotiations will resume in March 2025.

For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.

Read in Armenian on CivilNet.