Russia is urging the UN against approving a Georgian-backed draft UN resolution recognizing the rights of refugees from Georgia’s breakaway regions to return to their homes, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.
Georgia submitted to the UN General Assembly a new draft resolution on the “Status of the Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia,” that permits refugees from Georgia’s breakaway regions to return to their homes.
“We believe the UN members should refrain from approving this initiative seemingly politicized by Tbilisi,” Lukashevich said referring to Georgian claims of acquiring control over disputed territories.
The Russian diplomat said that “the same [Georgian] maneuver is repeated year in year out in an attempt to attract attention by the international community.”
“Georgia, however, has become worse and worse in its maneuvers,” Lukashevich said, citing the results of last year’s UN General Assembly session when “the majority of UN members either did not come to the vote or refrained from it.”
In 2010, Georgia submitted a draft resolution to the UN. Over 25% of the UN members voted for the controversial resolution at the UN General Assembly session in September. The document did not come into force since it needs at least half of the UN members’ votes to become operational.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Wednesday rejected the Georgia-sponsored draft resolution, saying that it “ignores the current political realities, in particular the fact that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are independent states.”
Lukashevich said substantial dialogue may take place only if all the interested parties, including Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, would be invited to discuss the resolution.
MOSCOW, June 9 (RIA Novosti)