Unilateral decisions to cancel and postpone the planned rounds of discussions in the format of the International Geneva Discussions (IGD) on security and stability are unacceptable. On March 13, this point of view was voiced by Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Galuzin during a conversation with the co-chairman of the Moscow Railways in Transcaucasia, UN representative Cihan Sultanoglu.
“The Russian representative emphasized the unacceptability of the unilateral decisions of the co-chairs to cancel and postpone the planned rounds of the International Railways, pointed out the need to resume rhythmic work in the framework of the Geneva discussions,” the message says.
It is known that the dialogue took place in the format of a videoconference, within which the issues of the prospects for the revival of the mechanism for preventing and responding to incidents on the Georgian-Abkhaz border were also touched upon.
“The prospects for restoring the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism on the Georgian-Abkhazian border in the settlement of Gal, which has been inactive for the past few years against the background of the uninterrupted functioning of a similar structure on the Georgian-South Ossetian border, were also discussed,” the ministry concluded.
Earlier, on January 31, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the inexpediency of holding a meeting in Moscow on February 3 with the co-chairs of the Ministry of Railways on security and stability in the Transcaucasus. The official representative of the department, Maria Zakharova, then announced that Moscow received a notification from the co-chairs of the Moscow Railways about the cancellation of the next 57th round planned for February 21–22 and its postponement to April 4–5. The document also noted that the February deadline “is not suitable for all participants.” The diplomat stressed that this is the second consecutive postponement of the round.
In October 2020, the Georgian Foreign Ministry stated that the round of Geneva discussions on the Transcaucasus, scheduled for October 6-7, was disrupted by the Russian side. The Russian Foreign Ministry called these statements of Georgia groundless.
At present, the Geneva discussions on the Transcaucasus remain the only platform for dialogue between Sukhum, Tskhinvali and Tbilisi. Representatives of Abkhazia, Georgia, Russia, the USA and South Ossetia, observers from the UN, the European Union and the OSCE take part in the talks.
The main goal of the discussions is to reach a legally binding agreement on the non-use of force between Abkhazia and Georgia, South Ossetia and Georgia.
