Georgia’s president condemns Łukašenka’s meeting with Abkhaz leader

February 22, BPN. Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has condemned Alaksandr Łukašenka’s meeting with Aslan Bzhania, leader of Gerogia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia.

“Following Łukašenka’s visit to Sokhumi, which disregarded the Georgian Law on Occupied Territories, this constitutes another blatant violation of Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” she tweeted.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry also criticized the meeting.

Inal Ardzinba, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Abkhaz republic, described Bzhania’s visit to Minsk as evidence of Abkhazia’s expansion of its international ties despite Georgia’s efforts to isolate it.

Łukašenka and Bzhania met in Minsk on February 21, with the Belarusian ruler saying that Georgia was “for some reason” reacting strongly to the meeting.

The Belarusian opposition voiced support for Georgia’s territorial integrity and independence in light of the visit.

Łukašenka visited Abkhazia last September without notifying Georgian authorities.

Belarus has not yet officially joined the small list of countries that recognize Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia as an independent state.

Back in 2008, Russia was involved in an armed conflict with Georgia and supported separatist movements in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In early February, Łukašenka said that he may recognize the independence of the two self-proclaimed republics should Russian President Vladimir Putin ask him to do it.