Ambassador David Bakradze participated in a panel discussion organized by the Voice of America #Georgian Service ამერიკის ხმა, Cold Peace: Ten Years after the Russia-Georgia War – Assessing the Impact on European Security. #russiageorgiawar
Anna Kalandadze Head of Georgian Service at VOA moderated the panel. Along with the Ambassador Bakradze, panel featured Kurt Volker U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations and Former U.S. Ambassador to NATO (2008-2009), and Paul J. Saunders Executive Director of the Center for the National Interest.
Ambassador Bakradze: In August 2008, Russia blatantly violated the fundamental norms and principles of international law and created a dangerous precedent for attacking the rules-based international order and undermine the entire European security architecture.
Hundreds of thousands of IDPs and refugees, expelled from their homes as a result of several waves of ethnic cleansing (population reduced from 300 Thousand to 100 thousand in Abkhazia region and from 120 thousand to 30 thousand in Tskhinvali region).
The recent cases of the murders of three Georgian IDPs –Basharuli, Otkhozoria, Tatunashvili – vividly demonstrate the ethnically driven violence in both occupied territories.
Despite continuous efforts by Russia to deteriorate situation, #Georgia stays committed to its peaceful conflict resolution agenda. Georgia has spared no effort to fully utilize the peace negotiations in the frames of the Geneva International Discussions as well as IPRM.
At the same time, Georgia has intensified its efforts towards engagement and reconciliation between the communities divided by war and occupation lines. Very recently, the Government has introduced the new peace initiative “A Step to a Better Future”.
The U.S. and Georgia enjoy shared values – we both favor peace over conflict and dialogue over devastation. We are encouraged current administration’s efforts to engage with traditional adversaries. We hope the U.S. will advance our mutual interest in engaging Russia in a substantive dialogue that brings peace to our nation and region.