EU/Russland/Abchasien/Südossetien

The Euro­pean Union is seri­ous­ly con­cerned about the plans announced by the Russ­ian Fed­er­a­tion to build up its mil­i­tary pres­ence in the Geor­gian regions of Abk­hazia and South Osse­tia with­out the con­sent of the Gov­ern­ment of Geor­gia. Among oth­er things, this applies to Russ­ian plans to con­struct a naval instal­la­tion on the coast of Abkhazia.

The EU would con­sid­er the imple­men­ta­tion of such plans to be a seri­ous vio­la­tion of the prin­ci­ple of Georgia’s sov­er­eign­ty and ter­ri­to­r­i­al integri­ty, to which the EU is strong­ly com­mit­ted. Any mil­i­tary build-up in Abk­hazia and South Osse­tia would be in con­tra­dic­tion with the spir­it of the August and Sep­tem­ber 2008 cease­fire agree­ments and jeop­ar­dise sta­bil­i­ty and secu­ri­ty in the region by fur­ther increas­ing tensions. 

The EU expects Rus­sia to act in a respon­si­ble man­ner and to con­tin­ue to imple­ment all its com­mit­ments. The EU also calls on Rus­sia to use all rel­e­vant inter­na­tion­al fora, in par­tic­u­lar the talks in Gene­va, to dis­cuss secu­ri­ty matters.

The Can­di­date Coun­tries Turkey, Croa­t­ia* and the for­mer Yugoslav Repub­lic of Mace­do­nia*, the Coun­tries of the Sta­bil­i­sa­tion and Asso­ci­a­tion Process and poten­tial can­di­dates Alba­nia, Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina, Mon­tene­gro, and the EFTA coun­tries Ice­land, Liecht­en­stein and Nor­way, mem­bers of the Euro­pean Eco­nom­ic Area, as well as Ukraine, align them­selves with this declaration.

* Croa­t­ia and the for­mer Yugoslav Repub­lic of Mace­do­nia con­tin­ue to be part of the Sta­bil­i­sa­tion and Asso­ci­a­tion Process. 

Source:
Coun­cil of the Euro­pean Union