US stays out of UN declaration condemning Russia over 2008 Georgia war

US refused to condemn Russia

On the 17th anniversary of the August 2008 war, several UN Security Council members again condemned Russia’s actions. Notably, this was the first time the United States did not sign such a statement.

Georgia’s foreign ministry has already responded to the declaration issued after the Security Council meeting.

Georgian Dream claims Saakashvili started 2008 war on US orders — backed by Russia’s Foreign Ministry

The majority of the public, along with the entire opposition, blame Russia for starting the war and for the subsequent occupation of Georgian territory — a position also backed by Georgia’s Western partners.

After the closed meeting, Slovenia’s UN ambassador, Ondina Blokar Drobič, read out the declaration. She said it had been signed by Denmark, France, Greece, the United Kingdom and Slovenia, along with the non-permanent Council member Latvia.

The declaration again condemned the killings of Georgian citizens, including Davit Basharuli, Giga Otkhozoria, Archil Tatunashvili, Tamaz Ginturi, Vitali Karbalia and Irakli Kvaratskhelia, stressing that those responsible must be brought to justice.

“We strongly reaffirm our support for Georgia’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. We condemn Russia’s brutal invasion and its ongoing illegal military presence, which violates the UN Charter, as well as its effective control and steps towards annexing two Georgian regions, including the signing of so-called integration agreements, the transfer of strategically important Georgian territory and infrastructure to Russia, and the holding of unlawful so-called elections.

We again condemn Russia’s continuing provocations, violations of international law and the militarisation of the two Georgian regions, including restrictions on freedom of movement, unlawful detention and abductions of local residents, discrimination against ethnic Georgians, bans on education in the native language, the deliberate destruction of Georgian cultural heritage, and the establishment of unauthorised air, rail and maritime links between Russia and the Abkhaz region.

We again call on Russia to fully comply with the 2008 ceasefire agreement and to withdraw its forces from Georgian territory immediately. We repeat the call we made to Russia 17 years ago: to revoke its recognition of the so-called independence of the two Georgian regions, to stop obstructing the creation of international security mechanisms and to allow international human rights and humanitarian organisations access to both regions,” the statement said.

August, 2008. Chronology of the war over South Ossetia in facts and photos

August five-day war: what happened. JAMnews has published a detailed, chronological review of how the war started and unfolded over those five days

Comment

Tina Bokuchava, chair of the opposition United National Movement party, wrote on social media that Bidzina Ivanishvili’s regime had left the country without partners and subordinated it to the influence of Russia and its allies.

She said the fact that, for the first time in 17 years since the 2008 war, the United States had not joined a UN statement in support of Georgia was proof that Georgian diplomacy was “dead.”

Tina Bokuchava:

“The Georgian foreign ministry as an institution no longer exists.

Yesterday, for the first time in 17 years, the United States did not join the statement made after the closed UN Security Council discussion of the 2008 war. This is not just a failure of Georgian diplomacy — it is proof that it is dead.

Ivanishvili’s regime has become so hostile to the United States that our main strategic partner — whose open support in 2008, together with the heroism of the Georgian army, stopped Putin and preserved our state — now refrains from making any statement on the war.

Why? Because today Ivanishvili’s Russia-friendly regime declares America an enemy, accuses it of starting the war, and names Russia, China and Iran as allies.

That is why, since 2012, we have said that Ivanishvili’s political project is the ‘Russian Dream,’ the ‘Putin Dream,’ in which Georgia is left alone in the face of Russia — isolated internationally, without friends and strategic partners. Because there is only one form of relationship with Putin: slavery, servitude and oppression.

Will the Georgian people lose their centuries-long struggle for freedom to Bidzina Ivanishvili? No — never! We will win and restore the national dignity that Ivanishvili has stolen from our country. We will take back Georgia!”

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