Moscow is not ruling out provocations by Georgian authorities at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), which Tbilisi will host in mid-May, the law on "occupied territories" can be used as a pretext, Foreign Ministry's Department of European Cooperation Director Nikolay Kobrinets has said in an interview with Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th February, 2020) Moscow is not ruling out provocations by Georgian authorities at the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), which Tbilisi will host in mid-May, the law on "occupied territories" can be used as a pretext, Foreign Ministry's Department of European Cooperation Director Nikolay Kobrinets has said in an interview with Sputnik.
"You know, there is a law 'on occupied territories' in Georgia, under which visiting Abkhazia and South Ossetia without the permission of the official Tbilisi is an unlawful at, punishable with a fine or even up to four years in prison," Kobrinets said, adding that some of Georgia's political forces are calling for applying the law to CoE's events.
"Theoretically yes," Kobrinets added, when asked whether this meant that provocations by Georgian authorities could be expected at the ministerial talks.
The official added that Georgia as the CoE's Committee of Ministers chair had to guarantee the safety of the delegations coming to the meeting in the Georgian capital.
"It is up to Tbilisi to decide how to interpret and apply the law. However, the CoE chair, which is currently Georgia, is obliged to ensure free entry and comfortable conditions for work to the participants, and, which is now more important, to guarantee the safety of all the delegations. We are not sure that our Georgian partners can fulfill these obligations," Kobrinets went on to say.
While Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said that her country is ready to receive the Russian delegation at the session of the Council of Europe's decision-making body, the Georgian opposition has called for preventing Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's possible participation in the meeting. Moscow has already expressed concerns, adding it will study all the factors before making the decision on the level of participation in the meeting. According to Kobrinets, the decision has not been made so far.
"As for the level of our participation, not necessarily the foreign minister [should lead the delegation]. It may be lower. It is admissible, and it is sometimes done. Everything depends on the agenda of the meeting, on the results that the chair has achieved. It has not yet been decided who will head the Russian delegation," Kobrinets said.
