This was stated by US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien, reports the portal “ekhokavkaza”, which is based on “Ukrinform”.
“Russia involves Sakartvel in the war in Ukraine. Russia has started building a huge military port in the occupied part of Sakartvel territory. Citizens of Sakartvelo are still kidnapped and sometimes even killed, the occupation of the territory continues,” the official noted.
Mr. O’Brien praised Tbilisi for a “wise” decision – Sakartvel’s government did not allow Moscow to transport military cargo and goods through its territory, even though Russia wanted it.
“For some time, Russia tried to transport military cargo and goods used for military purposes through the territory of Sakartvel. The Sarkartwell government made a wise decision, tried their best to stop it, and did a good job. Therefore, Russia is trying to involve Sakartvel in this war,” said Mr. O’Brien.
As previously reported by Ukrinform, in October of last year, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Abkhazia, Aslan Bzhania, stated that a new permanent base of the Russian Navy will be established in the Occhamchira region of Abkhazia occupied by the Russian army.
Earlier, the representative of the Main Intelligence Board of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Vadyms Skibitkis, said that the Russians had moved some of their ships from Crimea to Novorossiysk, but this port cannot receive all RF ships, so the Kremlin decided to use the occupied part of Sakartvel for this.
The city of Ochamchira is located in Abkhazia, which was occupied by Russia in 2008. Already on January 26, 2009 The General Staff of the Russian Naval Forces announced that in 2009, a base point for ships of the Black Sea Fleet will be established in the port of Ochamchira.
