Irakli Kobakhidze: The opposition's goal is recognition - if they were in power, one of the results, among many other troubles, would be the recognition of Abkhazia's so-called independence by Belarus

The state of Belarus still does not recognize the so-called independence of Abkhazia and for us, it is fundamentally important for them to maintain this position, and of course, each of our steps should be taken considering this, Irakli Kobakhidze, the chairman of the Georgian Dream party, stated on PalitraNews TV, responding to Alexander Lukashenko's arrival to occupied Abkhazia.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, Alexander Lukashenko softened his rhetoric after his so-called visit to Abkhazia, and when publishing information about the so-called visit on his webpage, he noted that "he had arrived on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea and visited historical places."

"Evaluations were made by the Georgian authorities at the highest level. From our side, naturally, we cannot evaluate the so-called visit as a visit - his arrival in Abkhazia was evaluated as a very unfriendly and wrong step, and our position in this regard is unequivocal. Also, the law on occupied territories was violated. This is a very unfortunate and grave step that we have seen. The main thing here for us is that the extreme red line is not crossed, naturally this is related to the policy of non-recognition.

The state of Belarus still does not recognize the so-called independence of Abkhazia and for us, it is fundamentally important for them to maintain this position, and of course, each of our steps should be taken considering this, even when it comes to reaction," Kobakhidze said.

Irakli Kobakhidze also answered the question of what reaction should follow Alexander Lukashenko's arrival in occupied Abkhazia, saying that the reaction has already been made by summoning the Belarusian Ambassador and in the form of principled statements made at the highest level.

According to him, the government of Georgia has a goal that the state of Belarus does not recognize the so-called independence of Abkhazia, while the opposition calls on the government to take steps against it.

According to Irakli Kobakhidze, if their opponents were in power instead of Georgia­n Dream, the result of their activities would be the recognition of the so-called independence of Abkhazia.

As Irakli Kobakhidze said, Georgia­n Dream has a successful non-recognition policy.