New Resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia from PACE
A consultative body composed of representatives of the parliaments of European states - the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe - again decided to address the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It seems that it doesn’t make sense to address the problem for the simple reason that there are no problems after these republics gained independence for their citizens. And, apparently, the whole problem lies in the fact that someone continues to itch, sorry, in the wrong place, activating mania and phobias about territorial claims. First, at the end of June, it was decided to postpone the meeting on the review of the so-called Russian-Georgian dossier for the autumn. However, later the body of the European inter-parliamentary cooperation came to an unexpected movement, which resulted in the adoption of either the 50th or the five hundredth (in general, the next resolution) on the “Situation in Georgia”. Someone will think that this resolution of the PACE could be related to concerns about the new militarization of Georgia, procurement of weapons, or the fact that freedom of speech is violated in the country and persecution of opposition media is carried out, opposition leaders restrict their rights. But no ... Obviously, the Parliamentary Assembly obviously does not care about these problems, and therefore the resolution was directed at that same 50th to 500th time to designate South Ossetia and Abkhazia as “occupied” territories. Well, in general, to say that this is some kind of news, it is impossible. Rather, the next shaking of the air with the simultaneous confirmation of the idea that the policy of double standards in our fragile world is alive and well, flourishing in a wild color on the margins of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The fact is that when adopting the said PACE resolution, those parliamentarians who voted “for” with both hands and feet do not take into account several important facts at once.
The first fact is that if Abkhazia and South Ossetia were once occupied territories, since the collapse of the Soviet Union until August 26 2008. And the local Georgian authorities occupied these territories, which, with their own legislative metamorphoses, put both Tskhinal and Sukhum and Tbilisi itself in an awkward position. Why? Yes, the fact is that even during the declaration of independence by Georgia during the parade of sovereignties after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the state authorities of this country (Georgia) adopted a very remarkable law from a legal point of view. He said something like the following: Georgia completely breaks with the Soviet past and declares that henceforth Soviet laws that have been in force in this territory for several decades lose all legal force.
It would seem that everything is correct - after all, it would be foolish, having declared its sovereignty, to preserve the legislative base of a country that has ceased to exist on the world map. Only here the legal incident is that the Soviet laws concerned the status of such territories as Abkhazia and South Ossetia: in 1922, South Ossetia became an autonomous region, and in 1931, Abkhazia became an autonomous republic within Georgia as part of the Soviet Union. And these occurrences were carried out exclusively according to Soviet laws. If you adhere to the letter of law, and the Georgian authorities do not get tired to remind you that they have full order with international law, then immediately after Tbilisi adopted the law on the termination of Soviet legal norms (without any succession) and Abkhazia and South Ossetia de jure out of the sphere of influence of Georgia. But this is de jure, but at the expense of de facto, as we all know, it was far from it. The authorities of independent Georgia, it turns out, decided not to sweep away all Soviet laws, as it later turned out, and therefore a bloody war broke out with thousands of dead and tens of thousands of wounded, with attempts to show Sukhum and Tskhinvali their place. In general, Georgia, in its time abandoning the Soviet legal framework, also refused to take into account the opinion of the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. So, maybe, now, as they say, "necha to blame the mirror ..."
Fact two. It lies in the fact that during the investigation of the causes of the armed conflict in South Ossetia of August 2008, it was unequivocally announced that Georgia had started the war against the South Ossetian people. Such a conclusion was made, as they say, by anyone, but by the chairman of the PACE Commission for Investigation into the Causes of the Conflict in South Ossetia, Heidi Tagliavini. After a long investigation in the autumn of 2009, the results of the investigation of the Tagliavini commission were presented at the PACE meeting. This report for many deputies (and especially deputies from democratic Georgia) was akin to a cold soul, because these parliamentarians obviously believed that the secret would never be revealed. But, apparently, it became ...
So, the aggression of Georgia against South Ossetia in the 2008 year, which was confirmed by the results of the PACE investigation, is already undergoing some interpretations today. They say, well, so what if Mr. Saakashvili decided, what is called, to burn several thousand residents of South Ossetia with fire and sword - and we will still accept resolutions that Russia now does not protect these territories from possible new Tbilisi aggression, but occupies.
By the way, the Russian delegation this time, when it came to a vote on the resolution, decided not to say yes or no. This, apparently, angered several delegations at once: they say, Moscow allows it for itself - it itself is occupying, and our democratic resolution does not express its protest either. It’s not even possible to “dig in” ... It’s just that the Russian delegation at the PACE, as in principle and the official Russian authorities, have long understood that these decisions of the Parliamentary Assembly are neither hot nor cold. Well, what can I say, when even the results of their own “Assemblies” conclusions here can easily undergo deformations some time after their publication. And in connection with this, it was possible to call all this PACE a sharashkina office, but this is somehow rude, because the Russian representatives simply decided to abstain from voting, demonstrating the whole true value of the decisions made here.
The PACE "occupational" resolution demands that international peacekeeping contingents be brought into South Ossetia and Abkhazia to monitor the "integrity problems" of Georgia. The Russian delegation at the same time declared that, in principle, it does not have anything against the use of international peacekeeping forces in the indicated republics. Only these peacekeeping contingents should not fulfill the role of overseer of integrity of Georgia, which itself, due to the policy of its own authorities, fairly lost its integrity, but fulfill the mission mandated for activities in the territory of independent states, which both Abkhazia and South Ossetia became in August 2008. . After that, in the meeting hall, the words were heard that, supposedly, only a few states had recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But, sorry, and here it is. Why, even if these South Caucasian republics after tangible support for the idea of independence in referendums within these countries were recognized only by some Tilimililitame and even after what Mr. Saakashvili had organized in Tskhinval, this situation could raise the question of the adequacy of claims to Sukhum and Tskhinval on the part of official Tbilisi. And it is fully consistent with international law.
In general, the next resolution that shook the air was born in the walls of PACE. As a result, the paper born was pinned to a pile of the same papers, everyone applauded their legislative activity and, as usual, remained unconvinced ...
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