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STATEMENT BY MR. KONSTANTIN GAVRILOV,

HEAD OF THE DELEGATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

TO THE VIENNA NEGOTIATIONS ON MILITARY SECURITY AND ARMS CONTROL,

AT THE 955th PLENARY MEETING OF THE OSCE FORUM FOR SECURITY CO-OPERATION

23 September 2020

Agenda item: General statements In exercise of the right of reply to the statement by the delegation of Georgia

Madam Chairperson,

With regard to the assertion made by the delegation of Georgia about the allegedly “provocative” nature of the Caucasus-2020 strategic command and staff exercise, which is taking place on the territory of Russia from 21 to 26 September, we should like to point out the following.

On a number of occasions during politico-military events at the OSCE, the delegation of the Russian Federation has stated that our country is pursuing a consistent course aimed at de-escalating the situation in Europe. The Russian armed forces have not planned any major military activities near our western borders for the current year. We have also emphasized a number of times that we are prepared to adjust the exercise areas on a parity basis with NATO.

In line with that approach, it was decided to move the large-scale activities under the Caucasus-2020 exercise further inside the country. The exercise in question is of a defensive nature, is taking place in strict compliance with the Vienna Document 2011 and has been designed for practising measures to contain and resolve armed conflicts linked to the combating of terrorism. If our colleagues are interested in acquainting themselves more extensively with the exercise and how it is proceeding, they can visit the official website of the Russian Ministry of Defence, where they will find the text of a briefing given by the Deputy Minister of Defence, Alexander Fomin, on 11 September. By the way, the briefing was attended by 107 diplomatic and military officials from 68 countries.

We stress that Russia continues to be in favour of the implementation of transparency measures, including voluntary ones.

The representative of Georgia also referred to the circumstances relating to the formation of the independent States of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Those circumstances were tragic: they were the consequence of the attack launched by the regime of Mikheil Saakashvili, who had come to power in Georgia in 2008, on the peaceful city of Tskhinval and on the peacekeepers stationed there under an international mandate. As a result, both civilians and peacekeepers lost their lives. To this day, Georgia has not brought to justice those guilty of perpetrating that crime or apologized for it to the civilian population. Moreover, Georgia unfortunately continues to shift the blame on to others.

We exhort the delegation of Georgia to make a positive contribution to the Forum’s work, rather than taking up time with long-familiar false accusations. It is worth emphasizing that no amount of repetition will make these allegations true or even convincing.

Thank you, Madam Chairperson.