Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that can help answer the question.
Query: Is Georgia currently occupied by Russia?
Occupied territories of Georgia (Georgian:საქართველოს ოკუპირებული ტერიტორიები) are the territories occupied by Russia after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. They consist of the regions of Abkhazia and the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast of Soviet Georgia (currently divided between several administrative divisions of independent Georgia), whose status is a matter of international dispute.
On 17 April 2014, the European Parliament adopted a resolution about Russian pressure on Eastern Partnership countries. The resolution, which called on the EU-member states to consider strengthening sanctions against Russia for its support of rebels in eastern Ukraine, also mentioned Georgia's occupied regions, saying that Russia "... is still occupying the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali / South Ossetia, in violation of the fundamental norms and principles of international law". The resolution said that under the effective control of the occupying power there had been ethnic cleansing and forced demographic changes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Russia bore responsibility for human rights violations. The resolution also declared that Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine "... have a European perspective and may apply to become members of the Union provided that they adhere to the principles of democracy, respect fundamental freedoms and human and minority rights and ensure the rule of law".[180]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Russia is occupying parts of Georgia and building permanent military bases in contravention of the truce during a visit to Tbilisi in 2010. According to Russian news agencies, then Prime Minister of Russia Vladimir Putin commented on this statement, saying that "They [Georgians] mustn't seek solutions outside," and "It's necessary to conduct a dialogue without citing third parties."[125][126] Putin also stressed that Russia was not the occupier, but only "liberated" Abkhazia and South Ossetia.[127]
In November 2010, NATO Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution containing the terms "occupied territories" and "ethnic cleansing" referring to Russian military presence and actions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. NATO parliamentarians urged Russia "to reverse" the results of ethnic cleansing and allow the "safe and dignified" return of all internally displaced persons to their homes. The Resolution condemned the tightening by Russian FSB Border Troops of procedures for crossing the Administrative Border Line, enhancement of Russia's military presence on the occupied territories as well as Russia's blocking of the extension of the OSCE and UN missions in Georgia. It urged Russia to allow EUMM unimpeded access to the entire territory of Georgia. NATO Parliamentary Assembly also welcomed Georgia's State Strategy on Occupied Territories and the Action Plan for Engagement.[181]
In April 2013, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after meeting with his Georgian counterpart Maia Panjikidze that Russia respected only a state "that is larger" and therefore the Czech Republic could not mediate between Russia and Georgia. As for Georgia’s future with regard to the occupied territories, the Czech Foreign Minister said Georgia should maintain contacts with them. "It is difficult when your territories are occupied, but sometimes you have to wait for years, even decades before the window of possibilities will be opened for you. I do not know when that time will come, but it will necessarily come", he said.[111]
Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki, Poti, and Gori, holding on to these areas beyond the ceasefire. The South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on 26 August; in response, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia mostly completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on 8 October. In the aftermath, Russia's international relations were largely unharmed. The war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people, mostly ethnic Georgians, remained displaced as of 2014. Russia has, since the war, occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the ceasefire agreement of August 2008.
With the independence of Georgia in 1991, the border became an international one.
After the armed conflict in 2008, Russia recognized the Russian-occupied territories of Georgia as the independent republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, so the border between Georgia and Russia, from the Russian point of view, has become much shorter (from 694 to 365 km), and is separated into two portions, a western one between Abkhazia and South Ossetia and an eastern one between South Ossetia and Azerbaijan.
From the Georgian perspective, the Russian–Georgian border did not change after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
On 14 March 2012, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia was ready to lift visa requirement for Georgian citizens in case of repealing by Tbilisi its law on occupied territories. "When he [President Saakashvili] announced that all Russian citizens could travel to Georgia without visa, he forgot to mention that a law 'on occupied territories' is in force in Georgia according to which anyone who has visited South Ossetia or Abkhazia since [the 2008 August] war, which was launched by Saakashvili, will face criminal liability in Georgia with jail term from two to four years," RIA Novosti news agency quoted Lavrov as saying while addressing the lawmakers in the State Duma.[49]
In March 2014, Lithuanian ambassador to the United States, Žygimantas Pavilionis said in an interview for the LRT TV programme Savaitė, that after the Russo-Georgian War everyone in Brussels "laughed about Lithuania's position". He said that "... at that time, the Western world forgot and forgave Russia for what it did in Georgia – occupied a large part of its territory, and is still keeping it."[120] In July 2014, Žygimantas Pavilionis said that when Russia occupied the Georgian territories, "... Lithuanian diplomats were the only ones in Europe and, I dare say, in Lithuania who constantly tried to defend a free Georgia to the end."[121][122]
Chechen and Ingush nationalists and activists, upon hearing of the Congress, congratulated Georgia, and furthermore moved to try to persuade Georgia to recognize genocides against them as well. Khizir Aldarov, the "head of the Chechen diaspora" and representative to the Georgian government urged Georgia to recognize the "Chechen genocides" (i.e. probably referring to Operation Lentil, called "Aardax" by the Chechens and Ingush; though it could be Tsarist tactics during the wars of the 1800s or the current wars). He also stated that Georgia should make the Chechen position more understood to the West and counter Russian manipulation of information on the Chechens around the world, and that Georgia and Chechnya held a common foe, so they are natural allies. To quote,
Moscow claims that the situation in North Caucasus is stable. In contrast to these claims, the West must be objectively informed. The official representatives of Tbilisi in all democratic states should express real information about the events in Chechnya. Today, Georgia is a country whose words are given adequate attention by the West. However, like Chechnya, a part of Georgia is occupied by Russia and the resistance must be unified against the common enemy.
Among other things, Aldamov referred to South Ossetia as "a part of Georgia... occupied by Russia" and condemned Kadyrov's accusations against Georgia.
President of France Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August 2008. On 17 August, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russian forces would begin to pull out of Georgia the following day. Russia recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics on 26 August. In response to Russia's recognition, the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russian forces left the buffer areas bordering Abkhazia and South Ossetia on 8 October, and the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia was dispatched to the buffer areas. Since the war, Georgia has maintained that Abkhazia and South Ossetia are Russian-occupied Georgian territories.
In November 2009, Audronius Ažubalis, Lithuanian Parliamentarian, stated that in 1999 Russia committed to fully withdraw its armed forces from Moldova and Georgia at the Istanbul Summit. "Unfortunately, these essential commitments have not been fully implemented, even ten years later: the so-called Russian “peacekeepers” are still dislocated in the Moldovan region of Transnistria, Russia has occupied a part of the Georgian territory: Abkhazia and South Ossetia Regions. Russian military infrastructure is being actively developed in these Georgian regions."[114]
On 7 June 2014, the White House announced $5 million aid for Georgia that would help people living near the border with Russia and "increase access to objective information by populations in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia".[142]
Having spent more than a century as part of the Russian Empire, in 1918 Georgia regained independence and established the First Republic. In 1921 Georgia was invaded and occupied by Bolshevik Russia to form the Soviet Union in 1922. When the country regained independence in 1991, the bilateral Russo-Georgian ties were once again strained due to Moscow's support of the separatist regions within Georgia, Georgia's independent energy policies and most recently, its intentions to join NATO.
As a result of the military conflicts in 1992–1993 and 2008, Georgia has no effective control over Abkhazia, whose declaration of independence is recognized by Russia and three other UN member states. Georgia considers Abkhazia as its autonomous republic, whose government sits in exile in Tbilisi, and currently an occupied territory. Abkhazia's territory, in the Kodori Valley, which had been under Georgia's control prior to the Russo–Georgian War of 2008, is "de jure" the self-governing community of Azhara. Abkhazia's secessionist government divides the entity's territory into seven districts ("raion").
On July 9, 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution at its annual session in Monaco, underlining Georgia’s territorial integrity and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as “occupied territories”. The resolution “urges the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, as well as the de facto authorities of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission unimpeded access to the occupied territories.” It also says that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is “concerned about the humanitarian situation of the displaced persons both in Georgia and in the occupied territories of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as the denial of the right of return to their places of living.” The Assembly is the parliamentary dimension of the OSCE with 320 lawmakers from the organization’s 56 participating states, including Russia.
In its June 2018 statement condemning Syria's recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Global Affairs Canada described the two entities as "Russian-occupied regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia", adding that "Russia’s occupation of these regions is a clear violation of international law that infringes on Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity."[166]
In February 2014, European Parliament adopted the resolution regarding EU-Russia summit. The EP members condemned Russian actions in the occupied territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in particular "the process of borderisation around Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region / South Ossetia, which has led to the expansion of the area of occupied territories, to the detriment of Georgia".[178]
In May 2014, President François Hollande had three-day trip to South Caucasus countries and finished by visiting Georgia on 13 May. Speaking at a joint news conference with his Georgian counterpart Giorgi Margvelashvili, he said that Georgia’s territories remain occupied and the cease-fire agreement is not fully respected.[154] "France did everything for the agreement to be reached and the conflict to stop. However we see today that occupation still exists and Georgia still has to regain territorial integrity," Hollande said while speaking about the 2008 Georgia-Russia war.[155]
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that Georgia would declare Russian peacekeepers as occupiers and the breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied territory. Saakashvili announced at a large rally outside parliament that Georgia would leave the Commonwealth of Independent States. Georgia filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice, accusing Russia of carrying out ethnic cleansing between 1993 and 2008.
Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said "I hope for constructive changes to let us normalise the relations. We will be judging not by statements, but by deeds”. At the same time, he warned Georgia’s new ruling power that Russia was not going to hold any negotiations on the law on "occupied territories", which Georgia adopted following the 2008 South Ossetia war. Lukashevich said that Russia would refer to the "Republic of Abkhazia" and "Republic of Ossetia" and not use the term "occupied territories".
In both Abkhazia and South Ossetia large numbers of people had been given Russian passports, some through a process of forced passportization by Russian authorities. This was used as a justification for Russian invasion of Georgia during the 2008 South Ossetia war after which Russia recognised the region's independence. Georgia considers the regions as occupied by Russia. Both republics have received minimal international recognition.
Russia claims, that "Abkhazia and South Ossetia are not occupied territories, but independent States."[35] The Russian Federation also holds that it "... does not at present, nor will it in the future, exercise effective control over South Ossetia or Abkhazia;" and "it was not an occupying power." It also noted that "despite having crossed into the territory of Georgia in the course of the conflict, Russia was not an occupying power in terms of IHL." According to Russia, "the number of Russian troops stationed in South Ossetia and Abkhazia [...] does not allow Russia in practice to establish effective control over these territories which total 12 500 sq. kilometers in size."[48]
On 9 July 2012, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution at its annual session in Monaco, underlining Georgia's territorial integrity and referring to breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "occupied territories". The resolution "urges the Government and the Parliament of the Russian Federation, as well as the de facto authorities of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, to allow the European Union Monitoring Mission unimpeded access to the occupied territories." It also says that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is "concerned about the humanitarian situation of the displaced persons both in Georgia and in the occupied territories of Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia, as well as the denial of the right of return to their places of living." The Assembly is the parliamentary dimension of the OSCE with 320 lawmakers from the organisation's 57 participating states, including Russia.
"I noted that Putin’s invasion of Georgia took place during the Beijing Olympiad in 2008 and wondered what would dissuade him from similar action in Ukraine since Russian troops still occupy South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgian territories, with no visible harm to Putin’s international relations. By the way, Russia was never sanctioned by the European or the United States over Georgia, and just a few months after the brief war ended the EU restarted talks with Russia on a formal partnership and cooperation agreement."[222]