Condemning signing of new treaty between Moscow and Sokhumi as a yet another “step towards de facto annexation” of breakaway Abkhazia, Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Tamar Beruchashvili, said in a statement that this move by Russia was made in response to Tbilisi’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations.

She said that Georgia has “already requested holding of the UN Security Council” over the issue.

“The Georgian government condemns this illegal move and calls upon the international community to properly assess this act, which is directed against Georgia’s territorial integrity in violation of fundamental principles of international law,” she said.

“This so-called treaty is a flagrant violation of the commitments undertaken by Russia under the 12 August 2008 Ceasefire Agreement. Its signature will negatively affect the security situation in Georgia’s occupied territories, and will have negative consequences in the wider context of European security as well. This so-called treaty is devoid of any legal basis and will therefore never be recognized by the international community. Despite this fact, we urge our international partners to once again condemn this act,” the Georgian Foreign Minister said.

“The signature of the so-called treaty constitutes a deliberate move by Russia in reaction to Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Georgia continues to steadily proceed with its course of European and Euro-Atlantic integration, and will adopt all the possible measures, in co-ordination with our partners, to ensure that citizens living in the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali can also benefit from this prospect,” she said.

“Georgia has been constantly pursuing an active dialogue with its international partners in reaction to the threats posed by the so-called treaty, but from now we will intensify our international efforts even further,” Beruchashvili said.

Also on November 24, Foreign Minister Beruchashvili met Tbilisi-based foreign diplomats to convey Georgia’s concerns.

U.S. ambassador to Georgia, Richard Norland, said the U.S. “absolutely rejects legality of any such agreement” and added that Washington will also release a statement.

Head of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), Toivo Klaar, said that this so called treaty should “not be overestimated.”  

“We have to remain calm and consider ways of how to promote engagement between Tbilisi and Sukhumi and Tskhinvali and the EUMM is here to continue to promote precisely that – to overcome the legacy of the conflicts of 2008 and that’s what the EUMM will continue to do in the spirit of what the EU’s position is – [supporting] the territorial integrity of Georgia,” Klaar said.