Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said on Tuesday that his visit to Tbilisi alongside top officials from other countries honours the 10th anniversary of Russia's aggression against Georgia and confirms support for the sovereignty of the Caucasian country.
Czaputowicz was in Tbilisi on a two-day visit, alongside fellow top diplomats - Lithuania's Linas Linkevicius and Latvia's Edgars Rinkevics - as well as Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Pavlo Rozenko. The delegation was hosted for roundtable talks by Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, PM Mamuka Bakhtadze, FM Davit Zalkaliani and Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze. After the discussion, the Polish FM emphasised the four-country delegation's visit to Tbilisi aims to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Russian military aggression against Georgia. "We are here today," the official said, "in order to confirm support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders." Czaputowicz pointed out that a decade ago, then Polish President Lech Kaczyński led a visit to Georgia as a show of support against the Russian assault. A decade on, "aggression against Georgia, Ukraine is part of Russian policy," the FM said, it violates international law and "must be constantly observed by the international community, including a sanctions regime." Poland's top diplomat also called on Moscow to "renounce its illegal recognition of the independence of Georgian regions" (Abkhazia and Tskhinvali) and withdraw its forces in line with the 2012 ceasefire. He also expressed Polish support for a June resolution by the United Nations General Assembly about the status of internal refugees in these Russian-occupied regions. Finally, Czaputowicz praised Georgia for its reforms and its pro-European course, calling it "an undisputed leader in the whole of the European Union's eastern neighbourhood in this respect." Poland fully supports these policies, the FM stated, as well as Tbilisi's cooperation with NATO, and is willing to offer further help in the reform of the Georgian defence sector.
Noble Partner
Georgia hosts large-scale military exercises with participation of thousands of NATO troops as the 10th anniversary of the war with Russia looms large.
The "Noble Partner" exercises are being held in Georgia for the fourth time, led by U.S., German, and Georgian commanders from the Vanziani military base near Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
Taking place over the first two weeks of August, the exercises will overlap with the 10 year mark since Russia invaded Georgia in what was a short-term, one-sided conflict. Russia continues to garrison troops and support the territory it seized, recognizing the breakaway states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Along with a company of 1,170 soldiers, the United States dispatched twelve Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, five M1A2 Abrams tanks and nine Blackhawk and Apache helicopters. Non-NATO Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan also sent soldiers.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, PAP, Reuters