Ambassador Holland welcomes the latest round of the Geneva International Discussions and calls on Russia to comply with its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement.
Thank you, Mr Chair.
The United Kingdom continues to strongly support the Geneva International Discussions (GID) and the work of the GID Co-Chairs including in the 63rd round of discussions held on 4-5 March. As the only international forum that brings together all sides from the conflict, the GID plays a vital role in trying to achieve a lasting resolution to the conflict and to address its consequences following the 12 August 2008 ceasefire agreement.
The UK reaffirms its full support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. We continue to call on the Russian Federation to reverse its recognition of the so-called independence of Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions.
We welcome continued discussion on core issues such as the non-use of force, humanitarian, human rights and international security arrangements and we encourage further efforts to make tangible progress on these issues.
We remain concerned by the ongoing militarisation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by the Russian Federation and the announcement of intent to recommence flights to Sokhumi Abkhazia without consideration of international air agreements. We again call upon the Russian Federation to immediately fulfil its obligation under the ceasefire agreement to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict positions, and its commitments to allow unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and cease all borderisation tactics.
The UK does not recognise the so-called Presidential elections in Georgia's Abkhazia region that took place on 15 February and 1 March 2025.
We note the importance of re-establishing the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism in the Gali region of Georgia "without pre-conditions" and ensuring that the mechanism operates regularly in both Gali and Ergneti in accordance with founding principles.
We regret that, due to walk-outs during working groups, discussions on returning internally displaced persons and refugees could not be addressed.
The UK looks forward to the next GID meeting expected to take place later in June 2025.
Thank You.
