U.S. Department of State released a statement on the 80th Anniversary of the Welles Declaration, where is written that it will never accept Russia’s attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia replied this statement on Twitter, saying that he is grateful for unequivocal U.S. support towards Georgia. Also, earlier this month, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine released a statement reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia.
Eighty years ago, the United States pointedly refused to recognize the illegal incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union’s criminal act was accomplished through the signing of secret protocols to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany in August 1939.
Through decades of Soviet occupation and attempts at forced assimilation, the United States never ceased to recognize the sovereignty of the three Baltic states. Throughout those dark days, the peoples of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania never lost hope that the doors of the Soviet “prison of nations” would one day open; nor did the United States.
“The Welles Declaration is no mere historical artifact. Just as the United States never recognized the Baltic States’ forced incorporation into the Soviet Union, so it will never accept Russia’s attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and Georgia, through its purported annexation of Crimea, its support for destabilizing proxies in eastern Ukraine, or its occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” stated U.S. Department of State
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, Davit Zalkaliani responded this statement with a tweet : “Grateful for the unequivocal U.S. support twrds Georgia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity & the non-recognition policy. This policy, powerfully echoed in the Welles Declaration,is strong as ever & constitutes one of the main pillars of U.S-Georgia strategic partnership.”
Last week, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine released a statement reaffirming the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders. Ukraine demands that the Russian Federation immediately cease its destabilizing actions against the Georgian civilian population, provide unimpeded access to Georgia’s occupied territories for the international human rights and monitoring organizations as well as ensure the return of the detained and wounded Georgian citizen.
U.S. Embassy Tbilisi is also alarmed and deeply troubled by reports that Russian-led security forces shot, wounded, and detained a Georgian citizen on July 11 near the village of Kvemo Chala, along the administrative boundary line of Russian-occupied South Ossetia.
“We condemn this shooting and detention — another escalation in a series of provocative actions taken by Russian-led forces in recent weeks. Such a dangerous and unwarranted incident would not have occurred if Russia had fulfilled its commitments under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, including withdrawing its forces to pre-conflict positions and allowing unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. We call for the immediate release of the Georgian detained in this incident”, is written in U.S. Embassy statement.
Furthermore, Members of the European Parliament deplore the constant violations by Russia, which is currently exercising effective control over the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia, of the fundamental rights of the people living in these regions, who are being deprived of both their liberties and rights. MEPs express their concern that the continuous “illegal borderisation” has particularly detrimental effects in the context of the ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, since it deprives people of their right to free movement, access to necessary medical services and is endangering their lives.
European Parliament salutes the strengthening of EU-Georgia relations
