The process of annexation of the Tskhinvali region by the Russian Federation has entered an active and extremely dangerous phase, which is taking place against the backdrop of the criminal silence and inaction of the Dream government, - reads a statement issued by the Gakharia For Georgia party.

As noted in the statement, the recent actions of the Georgian Dream, which concern the Chorchana case, the statement related to the apology, and also the attempt to portray Georgia as guilty in the August 2008 war, “directly indicate that these processes are suspiciously criminally connected with the process of annexation of the Tskhinvali region by the Russian Federation”.

Members of the Gakharia party call on the government to exit the regime of silence and inaction and to respond quickly.

“Today, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted at its plenary session the federal law initiated by Vladimir Putin on the ratification of the Agreement on the Deepening of Allied Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the so-called “Republic of South Ossetia”, which is a step towards the de facto annexation of the Tskhinvali region. The fact that the aforementioned agreement was signed on May 9 is of a particularly symbolic and cynical nature.

The criminal silence of the Dream government is evident regarding both the content of the meetings held within the framework of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) and the Geneva International Negotiations, as well as the statement of the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, according to which the Russian Federation is working in a confidential manner on the issue of transferring the Geneva negotiations format to “neutral territory”.

The recent actions of the Dream, the public apology, the attempt to portray Georgia as the aggressor in the August 2008 war, and the politically motivated criminal prosecution of the former Prime Minister of Georgia, whom the Dream government is prosecuting for defending Georgian land, stopping the creeping occupation, and placing a standard police checkpoint in the village of Chorchana, with the rhetoric of the Russian occupation regime in Tskhinvali and Russian propaganda narratives, directly indicate that these processes are suspiciously criminally connected to the process of annexation of the Tskhinvali region by the Russian Federation.

We call on the Dream government to exit the regime of criminal silence and inaction and to respond clearly to the incident, including mobilizing international partners and relevant formats, in order to prevent the process of annexation of the occupied territory of Georgia - the Tskhinvali region," reads the statement.