Mr. President,Excellencies,Distinguished colleagues,

At the outset, allow me to express my sincere gratitude to the Security Council for giving me the opportunity to address the Council’s meeting on the situation in Georgia. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for the recent report on the matter and to underline my appreciation to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Mrs. Heidi Tagliavini for her continued and tireless efforts for solving this extremely complicated conflict.

Here, I would like to emphasize that the Mission until now headed by Mrs. Tagliavini  despite its critical role lacks essential mandate to contribute fully to achieving a final, comprehensive, long-lasting political settlement.

Mr. President,

As you may know, Georgia has made noticeable progress since the `Rose Revolution`. We have carried out a number of significant reforms aimed at the strengthening of the state institutions in order to ensure the irreversibility of democratic processes. However, the process of democracy building is hindered by some problems that cannot be solved by Georgia's efforts or political will only; these are the problems that need active involvement of the international community, international organizations and first of all, involvement of the UN.

The major problem where we have no progress at all is the restoration of territorial integrity of my country, infringed due to the protracted conflicts, first of all the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia.

What is the current situation and the recent development in the conflict resolution process? I have to mention here that to a large extent, the Report of the Secretary-General reflects the main problems. As described in the Report, still:

- Military exercises held by the Abkhaz de facto authorities are going on and have even intensified during this year;

- Safety of the local population – ephemeral so far - is constantly deteriorating;

- Human rights sub-office in Gali region is still our common unrealized intention only;

- Small UN civilian police unit is operating only outside the conflict zone;

- The Georgian language is banned at schools in Gali region;

- Property rights of the spontaneous returnees are totally ignored.

Mr. President,

As a result of the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, about three hundred thousand people, predominantly Georgians, as well as representatives of other nationalities - were forcefully driven from their homes, and today, this area is run by the benefactors of internationally recognized ethnic cleansing as recognized by the OSCE Summit Declarations in Budapest (1994), Lisbon (1996) and Istanbul (1999).

Already for more than 13 years, we have been speaking about the return of internally displaced persons. Dozens of the Security Council resolutions condemn the forceful demographic changes and demand unconditional, secure and dignified return of all refugees and IDPs. But those resolutions are shelved and not a single person has officially been allowed to realize one of the basic rights–the right to live in their homeland. How long should we all tolerate that?

Indeed, it is high time for international community to initiate more active efforts in order to establish the stability in the region. Georgia can no longer tolerate the existence of uncontrolled separatist enclaves, the so called "white spots" of democracy, that are breeding grounds for illegal arms trade and drug trafficking, safe havens for international terrorists and criminals. From the beginning of the peacekeeping operation until the end of 2005, about 1900 people were killed on the territory controlled by Russian peacekeepers; and its happening in Gali district, where the whole population does not exceed 60 thousand. We can no longer accept massive violation of fundamental human rights in the conflict zones in Georgia. May I remind the esteemed council that the threats posed by lawless territories usually tend to spread beyond their boundaries.

Today, one of the main problems on the way of conflict resolution is the presence in the conflict zone of CIS peacekeepers – entirely comprised of Russian military forces. Let me elaborate a little more on the role of this force.

Initially, the main objective for having peacekeeping forces was the necessity to cease-fire. This aim was reached more than 14 years ago. Since than all we have been witnessing is - murders, kidnapping and violation of human rights.

One can observe total public distrust to the Russian peacekeepers in the entire Georgian society. First of all, this distrust comes from efforts of Russian peacekeepers to alienate Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. In fact, peacekeepers serve as border guards protecting illegal de-facto border established by separatists. And as it is openly declared by Russian militaries though TV channels and mass-media, they are protecting the interests of so called Russian citizens living in Abkhazia. Let me remind you that these are the people who were given Russian passports and citizenship purposefully, just to justify the permanent military presence of Russian forces in the region. Considering that the majority of the current population of Abkhazia, Georgia, has been granted Russian citizenship, it becomes evident that the existing peacekeeping force is not an impartial international unit carrying out its mandate, but rather a dividing force. This, in turn, casts doubt on the effectiveness of the entire peacekeeping operation carried out under the auspices of the United Nations.

Both Georgian and Abkhaz sides are against new outbreaks and those who constantly threaten the local population with the possible renewal of conflict, have special interest in maintaining `status quo` in the region.

Under the current peacekeeping format, the separatist government is being steadily armed with modern military equipment. During last two years, with the direct financial and material aid of the Russian defense and security services, at least eight large-scale military maneuvers were carried out on the territory of Abkhazia, Georgia precisely in the zone of restricted armament. The militarization of the region, facilitated by the efforts of the Russian Federation, is rapidly consolidating the destructive potential of the de facto regime of Abkhazia. I would like to highlight that this is a direct violation of existing peacekeeping mandate and most of bilateral agreements on conflict solution between Russia and Georgia.

There is an alarming trend of increasing number of criminal offences where evidence shows that in many cases the criminals were the peacekeepers themselves. According to our data, 9% of all criminal violations in Abkhazia during last year were committed by peacekeepers. The facts of peacekeepers’ participation in organized crime, smuggling, facts of abuse of the local Georgian population are documentarily proved.

The Russian influence in Abkhazia is consistently increasing. No political decision or appointment of a high ranking official takes place without Russian directives. As an example we can just name Sultan Soslanaliev – Minister of Defence and Vice-Premier of Abkhazia, the person who used to be a commander of Shamil Basaev, the internationally recognized terrorist. The security system of Abkhazia is under total control of the Russian Intelligence Services. Abkhaz officials periodically visit Moscow, where they are received on a very high level and enjoy a strong support from well-known Russian politicians. Russian officials pay visits of support to Abkhazia as well. Another fact, testifying the obvious support of separatists by the Russian side and active involvement in inner Abkhazian politics, is that the key official posts in Abkhazia and all persons appointed are directly controlled by the Russian services. Russian illegal investments absorbing the strategic objects of Abkhazia, tourism infrastructure and banking system are getting more substantial. The legitimate property of the Georgian state and citizens is seized by Russian business circles and militaries. This is a vivid demonstration of double standards of Russia’s policy – on one hand verbally supporting Georgia’s territorial integrity and on the other backing secessionist regime that conducted ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population.

We address international community to condemn the unlawful embezzling of the state and private property belonging to the Georgian population in Abkhazia. 

Abkhaz authorities are very restricted in making their own political decisions. Correspondingly, we don’t have progress in negotiation process just because the Abkhaz side is completely bound to follow Russia’s instructions. As an example, we could remind you of the so-called election of the leader of Abkhazia when enormous pressure was imposed on residing in Abkhazia.

We don’t have any illusions concerning the possibility of resolving the existing conflicts overnight even in case of strong political will of Russia. But regretfully we have the impression that there is no political will and the motivation of Russia to maintain the status quo is even more decisive than that of Abkhazian leadership.

Mr. President,

According to the international law, annexation is nothing more than the assertion of effective control through political, economic and military means over the territory of another state. This is exactly what is going on in Abkhazia, Georgia.

But this is not the end of the story. Today, we are facing rather worrying development of this process. One of the members of the Security Council, member of the Group of friends and the facilitator of the peace process – namely the Russian Federation – suddenly has decided to disassociate itself from supporting the basic principle – principle of territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders. More and more frequently we hear that the national minorities in Georgia have the right to self-determination. Last statements of the President Putin and the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry concerning the universality of the Kosovo model and its applicability to Abkhazia is nothing more but an attempt to find a legal justification for the ongoing de-facto annexation undermining the sovereignty of Georgia. Numerous quoting of the referendum as a mechanism for defining of the status of this or that nation is once more nothing but double standard. Any referendum can not be considered as legitimate, if it expresses the will of small part of the population only while the majority had been ethnically cleansed from that part of the country. And the last but not the least - any deviation from the principle of territorial integrity is a threat not only to my country but Russia itself in the first place. Unfortunately, not everybody in Russia, if any, does understand that.

Mr. President,

Despite this very destructive development, I have to reiterate once more that we strictly adhere to the principle of peaceful resolution of the conflict. This has been stated by highest Georgian officials on every possible occasion. We are ready to have open dialogue and constructive negotiations with our Abkhaz counterparts and are ready to grant the region the broadest model of autonomy.

Let me inform you about some steps that the Georgian government has taken to further the conflict resolution: President Saakashvili announced his readiness to meet the de-facto leader without any preconditions. Our expectation is that such a meeting will result in the beginning of unconditional, dignified and secure return of all refugees and IDPs, as envisaged by Security Council resolutions.

Unfortunately, no mechanism for such a process exists at this stage. The only peace keeping force in the conflict zone – that is Russian militaries – claim that they lack the proper mandate for facilitating such a return.

We are not against the peacekeeping forces per se in the region – as avoiding of any new provocations is in our own interests; All we want is to resolve this conflict peacefully and release the Abkhaz side from the political pressure of Russia's policy. Having a truly independent international peace-operation in the conflict zone is one of the main preconditions to achieve this goal.

We are ready to sign the agreement on non-resumption of fire. The only prerequisites for this are the security guarantees for the returnees in the region. We believe that these security guarantees should be provided exclusively by the international peace-keeping force and not by the Russian side that has already violated every existing agreement on the peace-process.

We have given new impetus to the Georgian-Abkhazian negotiation formats. The government of Georgia agreed to restore the railway-connections through the territory of Abkhazia and endorse other projects of economic rehabilitation. Unfortunately, the response to these initiatives was the declarations of de-facto Abkhaz leader regarding his intention to put land-mines across the border of Abkhazia.

Mr. President,                                                       

In order to assist the peaceful resolution of conflicts, the parliament of Georgia adopted a special resolution on peacekeeping forces in the conflict region. This was an attempt to alarm the international community on the necessity of facilitating the peace-process through positive pressure on the Russian side to fulfill its obligations. All we have got in response are declarations that Russia will not withdraw the military forces from the region regardless of any decision of the Georgian government.

The existing format of peacekeeping forces is unacceptable for us. The Georgian legislative body is determined to pass a special resolution on Abkhazia in the nearest future aimed at reviewing the existing peacekeeping mandate. But I can assure you that the government of Georgia will give adequate and positive response to any progress achieved in peace-operation. We are ready to cooperation and are willing to see Russia playing a positive role.

At the same time we stand ready to consider any options which will breakthrough the stalemate in the conflict resolution process. The Security Council is exactly the body which can and has to take the decisive steps for such a breakthrough.

Once more, key issue which has to be solved is the return of all refugees and IDP’s in organized, secure and suitable conditions. Unfortunately, such conditions do not exist for a while. As I already mentioned criminal situation in the conflict zone, especially in Gali district is very far from being normal. Killing, armed assault, kidnapping and physical abuse of local Georgian population has become a routine. The Government of Georgia welcomes the last initiative of the Group of friends of the Secretary–General concerning the establishment of the international civil police force in the region that will help to protect the elementary human rights and freedoms of the local population.

Mr. President,

Time is running out. The format of existing peacekeeping operation urgently needs to be reviewed and balanced by the international segment in order to guarantee the progress in the conflict resolution process according to the principles outlined in the resolutions of the Security Council. We are calling for the establishment of the UN international peacekeeping forces.

Once more, Georgian society as well as the international community has been waiting far too long for the secure, unconditional and organized return of all internally displaced persons and refugees. It is the right time for the UN to introduce new options to set this process in motion.

We are here to find new solutions and new approaches to promote the peace-process. We need truly neutral and unbiased peacekeeping operation. We need internationalization of the existing peacekeeping monopoly. We are here to ask you to adopt the resolution that will call upon the current realities, resolution that will facilitate the changing of `status quo` for the better and bring us to a final settlement of the conflict.  We are confident that stepping up the efforts in conflict resolution in Abkhazia will bring us closer to peace, security and prosperity for the Caucasus and larger Europe.

I thank you.