More than 3,000 people took to the streets in Georgia on Saturday to protest what they called Moscow’s occupation of the breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions.
Carrying placards that read “Stop Russia!” and chanting “Georgia,” protesters gathered outside the State Chancellery building in the capital, Tbilisi.
“The Kremlin continues to use both hard and soft power in its efforts to subjugate Georgia,” one of the protest’s organizers, Tamara Chergoleishvili, told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
“We gathered here to show that Russia’s aggressive policy doesn’t belong to the 21st century,” she added.
“[Russian President Vladimir] Putin must know that we will never accept Russian occupation,” 21-year-old protester Elene Gerliani said. “Today’s rally is part of our fight for freedom.”
On Tuesday last week, the Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused Russia of moving border markers further into Tbilisi-controlled area near the Kremlin-backed separatist region of South Ossetia.
The shift left a portion of the Baku-Supsa Pipeline, which transports Caspian oil destined for Western markets, under effective Russian control.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said through a spokesperson that the move “had led to tension in the area.”
“Steps that could be perceived as provocative must be avoided,” she said.
Russian troops have been installing barbed wire around South Ossetia since Tbilisi’s defeat in the brief 2008 Russia-Georgia war over control of the Moscow-backed separatist region.
After the war, Moscow recognized South Ossetia — along with the separatist enclave Abkhazia — as independent states and stationed thousands of troops in the regions that make up about 20 percent of Georgian territory.
The breakaway regions, whose self-proclaimed independence has been recognized by only a handful of countries, are heavily dependent on Russia for military and financial assistance.
The Baku-Supsa Pipeline, also known as the Western Route Export Pipeline, runs from Azerbaijan to Georgia’s Black Sea terminal of Supsa and can transport up to 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
Last year, about 31 million barrels of crude oil were pumped through the 830km pipeline.
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