The FINANCIAL — According to Civil Georgia, Davit Bakradze, the Georgian parliamentary chairman, said on April 27, that Russia had neither moral, nor legal right “to instruct” NATO what to do.
His remarks were made in response to comments by Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, who said on April 27, that NATO’s planned exercises in Georgia would be “harmful” in the current environment.
Lavrov said, when asked at the news conference if Russia would accept NATO’s invitation to send observers during the exercises: “Of course, Russia will not be participating and advises other countries against doing so.”
Initially nineteen NATO-member and partner countries were planning to take part in the exercises, which will take place from May 6 to June 1 in Vaziani military base, twenty kilometers east of Tbilisi. On April 21, after Russia’s protests, however, Kazakhstan said that it would not take part.
“Instead of holding exercises in Georgia, you need to make the current Georgian regime fulfill its obligations,” Lavrov said.
Davit Bakradze, the Georgian parliamentary chairman, said Russia “should better follow its commitments” undertaken under the ceasefire deals. He said Russia “is an occupant country,” which is in contravention with its own commitments.
“Such country has neither political and moral nor legal rights to instruct NATO-member states what the Alliance should do or not to do,” Bakradze said. “This is a continuation of a classical Soviet-type diplomacy, when the best defense tactic was offensive.”
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