In a joint statement, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States said they “do not recognize the legitimacy of the so-called ‘presidential elections’ held in Georgia’s Abkhazia region by the de facto authorities in Sokhumi on August 25, 2019, and will not acknowledge their outcome.”
The 15 countries also said in their joint statement that they “do not recognize the legitimacy or outcome of the so-called ‘parliamentary elections’ held in Georgia’s South Ossetia/Tskhinvali region on June 9, 2019.”
The signatory countries reiterated their “full support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders.”
The signatories to the statement urged Russia “to fulfill all of its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, including the withdrawal of its forces to pre-conflict positions and the provision of free access for humanitarian assistance to these regions, as well to reverse its recognition of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states."
Last August, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Ukraine issued a joint statement on the 10th anniversary of "the Russian military aggression against Georgia.” In it, they called on Russia to "reverse its illegal recognition of the so-called independence" of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
(gs/pk)
Source: IAR, gov.pl