The Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, has praised the ‘resilience’ of the Georgian authorities, claiming they managed to ‘resist destructive actions aimed at destabilising the situation during the elections’.
Shoigu, who previously had a long tenure as Defence Minister, made the remarks following a meeting of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) security chiefs in Moscow.
‘[The] Georgian authorities have managed to fight off destructive actions geared to destabilise the situation inside the country during the elections. Naturally, credit is due to the authorities — they showed the strength to defend the interests of Georgia and its people’, Shoigu said, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.
Shoigu has additionally said that the situation in the South Caucasus was ‘improving’, adding that resuming meetings in the 3+3 format — a proposed dialogue format that would bring Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan together with Iran, Turkey, and Russia — was ‘crucial for advancing the peace process’.
These meetings have been taking place without Georgia’s participation, due to its conflict with Russia.
According to IPN, Shoigu additionally emphasised Russia’s role in the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process.
‘A great contribution was made by the participating countries. Of course, I mean Russia, because someone might get the impression that during all this time, the only country that resolved the eighth or ninth conflict was the United States’, he said.
Armenia and Azerbaijan initialled their peace agreement at the White House in early August. They additionally agreed to the establishment of the Trump Route, or TRIPP, which would connect mainland Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory.
Shoigu’s remarks about Georgia followed a damning enlargement report issued by the EU calling Georgia a ‘candidate country in name only’.
Yousef Bardouka
