GUAM urges Russia to abstain from unilateral actions against Georgia

Member states of the Organization for Democracy and Economic Development – GUAM, launched a joint declaration concerning the actual relations between the Russian Federation and Georgia. The declaration was launched as part of the assembly of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs Council of CIS in Minsk (Belarus). According to the press service of the Ministry of External Affairs and European Integration, GUAM member-states welcome Georgia’s decision to transmit the kept military men to the Russian Federation, as an action aiming to reduce the tension that appeared in the relations between the two states. “Any inadequate actions applied by one of the CIS states against another are in conflict with the principles of reciprocity stipulated in the constitution acts of the Community” the declaration says. The states that signed the document, call on the Russian Federation to abstain from unilateral actions in its relations with Georgia, actions oriented towards suspending economical contacts, humanitarian ones, as well as others of interstate character. GUAM members express their belief that the problems that appeared, including those that relate to the regulation of conflicts, should be solved by means of negotiation, in conformity with the norms and principles of international law, of sovereignty and territorial integrity and inviolability of frontiers provided in the Charter of the United Nations as well as other fundamental documents of OSCE and CIS. At the same time, the organization welcomes the Russian Federation’s engagement to evacuate from Georgia’s territory its military bases and objects during 2008. GUAM also supports Georgia’s initiatives concerning the regulation of conflicts on its territory, particularly, the proposals for expanding the negotiation format and operations for maintaining peace. The Organization for Democracy and Economical Development - GUAM calls on all the member-states of CIS to support crisis solution efforts in relations between Georgia and the Russian Federation.