Statement by Foreign Ministry of Georgia

On 1 September 1939, Fascist Germany made an incursion into Poland and occupied its territory after a month of devastating fights. This aggression led to the outbreak of the Second World War. Georgian people made a tremendous contribution to the fight against fascism. Out of 700 000 Georgians fighting in World War II, 350 000 laid their lives heroically in the battlefield. The flag under which Georgian soldiers fought was not, however, the one they had chosen out of their own free will. In 1921 Bolshevik Russia occupied democratic Georgia in violation of all the international norms, including the peace treaty signed with Georgia. Despite this, Georgian people pride themselves on being able to contribute to the efforts to eradicate fascism and take their well-deserved place alongside the member states of anti-Hitler coalition.

The lesson to be derived from those tragic events is that the appeasement of the aggressor by fulfilling its wills at the expense of a small country can only add to its appetite for further aggression especially if the appeasement of the aggressor takes place through turning a blind eye to its flagrant violations of the universally recognized norms and principles.

The actions currently carried out by the Russian government against Georgia are in no way different from the fatal steps aggressor countries have taken in the course of the history.

Immediately after the end of the war, the civilized countries of the world translated the lesson they had learned from their bitter experience into concrete actions: the UN Charter, 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris for a New Europe are unanimously upholding the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and the sovereign choice of states. The International community should no longer tolerate any new attempts to divide the world into the spheres of influence or the `Molotov-Ribentrop lines`.