Tuesday, March 18 2014

 

Tbilisi. On Sunday, March 16, in the evening, the Foreign
Ministry of Georgia made a strict statement in connection with a referendum on
the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which was conducted on
Sunday.  

"The Georgian Foreign Ministry does
not recognize the referendum, conducted in the Crimea on the 16th of March 2014
on the background of the Russian armed forces' pressure, in violation of the
universally recognized norms and principles of International Law, with complete
disregard for the Ukrainian national laws", a statement on the ministry's
official site reads.

According to the Georgian foreign
political department, Russia's attempt to annex Crimea represents a blatant
violation of the commitments it has undertaken both under multilateral and
bilateral agreements.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry
unequivocally reiterates its support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial
integrity within its internationally recognized borders and calls upon the
international community to consolidate efforts to make the Russian Federation
withdraw its troops from the Crimea, immediately de- escalate the situation in
the Crimea as well as in other regions of Ukraine to launch direct talks with
the Ukrainian authorities and to co-operate with the international community in
order to find ways to settle the existing situation, the Georgian Foreign
Ministry stresses.

The referendum on a status of the
Autonomous Republic of the Crimea was conducted in the Crimea on Sunday. As RIA
Novosti agency reports, two questions were put to vote: Do you support
unification of the Crimea with the Russian Federation with a right of a subject
of the Russian Federation?" and "Are you for restoration of the
effect of the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of the Crimea and for its
status as a part of Ukraine? 

According to data of exit polls,
approximately 93% of residents of the Crimea voted for joining the Russian
Federation by the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea.   The exit poll was conducted by the Crimean
Republican Institute of Political and Sociological Researches, the agency
reports.

The authorities in Kiev consider the
referendum is illegal, the Western countries stated that they did not intend to
recognize its results. The Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized the referendum
as illegal. On Saturday, Verkhovn Rada (the Supreme Council) passed a
resolution of pre-term suspension of the Crimean parliament's powers. The UN
Security Council failed to pass a resolution against the referendum in the
Crimea as Russia, as a permanent member of UN SC, vetoed it.