Parliament chair says NATO supports Abashidze-Karasin format

Georgia’s Parliament Speaker Davit Usupashvili, who is paying his official visit to Brussels and holding meetings at the NATO headquarter, stresses that the NATO member states are against the suspension of the Abashidze-Karasin meeting format, the format of Georgia’s and Russia’s special envoys established after the 2012 parliamentary elections in Georgia through the initiative of Georgia’s former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Usupashvili admits that the format that is mainly focused on trade-economic issues and is not very effective. However, he highlights that the source of negotiations is highly scored by the international community and the NATO member countries.

“Here I was asked whether the government really plans to cancel the meetings or not, as they are against of such a development. It is not in the NATO interests as well Georgia to be in confrontation with Russia if we are granted the Membership Action Plan ( MAP) in the future,” Usupashvili says.

Usupashvili also stated that it is an appeal of the international community Georgia not to be provoked by the recent aggressive steps of the Russian federation, when the occupant forces installed a new signpost near the Tbilisi-Gori central highway and try to control a certain section of the Tbilisi-Supsa pipeline.

“We must not be provoked. We should avoid any further tension with the support of our international allies. Our partners are well informed concerning the current negative consequences in Georgia and they firmly support our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Usupashvili says.

Meanwhile the opposition United National Movement is demanding the rejection of the Abashidze-Karasin format, saying that the format damages the state interests and serves only Russia’s intentions.

They are also accusing the current state leadership of being inactive in terms of the Russian activities and address to them to be stricter in their statements and activities.

The fact is that the international community sees the provocations and tells us to be extremely cautious for not be provoked again as it happened in 2008.

If we are provoked, Russia will get what it wants once again and the international community will be mainly framed with supporting statements, as no one wishes to be in war situation with Russia.