Russia’s MFA Says No Formal Ceasefire Agreement with Georgia Exists

TBILISI – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Friday claimed that the Kremlin never signed a ceasefire agreement with Georgia to end formally the hostilities that broke out in August 2008.

“The so-called agreement that is in question was a six-point plan for conflict resolution that was developed by the presidents of Russia and France and was later proposed to the Georgian, South Ossetian and Abkhaz sides but was never signed,” Russia’s MFA said.

Relations between the two countries plummeted to an all-time low after Russian tanks rolled into the heart of Georgia during the brief, but bloody August 2008 War.

Georgia commemorated the five-day conflict last week by honoring the hundreds killed in the fighting and thousands of ethnic Georgians who were driven from their homes.

Formal relations between Georgia and Russia have been frozen for eight years, with Tbilisi insisting that the status quo continues until Russia ends its support for the pro-Moscow separatist governments in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a speech on July 22 that Georgia must be the first to make a move towards re-establishing diplomatic ties, as Tbilisi was responsible for cutting formal relations between the two countries.

In a statement released on August 7, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Russia continues to illegally occupy 25 per cent of Georgia’s sovereign territory and violate international law by not adhering to the 2008 ceasefire agreement.

By Tamar Svanidze
Edited by Nicholas Waller