I thank the members of the committee for inviting me. It is a great honour and a pleasure to speak before them. I also thank them for their interest in the matter and for all the support that Ireland, along with other European countries, has expressed for my country in this difficult time.
I would never have imagined that I would have to prove that my country had the right to freedom. Some people, including people in the West, think that Georgia is just a breakaway Russian province and even feel guilty that the defeat in the cold war dispossessed Russia of what was hers. They suggest that the democratic transition in eastern Europe was a mistake and that further advance of democracy and European values into what they consider Russia's backyard effectively means hostile encirclement of that country. Some of them have even suggested that the world would be a safer place if it were divided into old spheres of influence and that Russia's whimsical destruction of a small neighbour should be appeased.
First, I will touch upon basic facts of Georgian history as they are relevant. It is the ancient country of the golden fleece, known as the kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia to the Greeks since the myth of the Argonauts. We have our unique language, our script and a rich and distinct culture. With more than 3,000 years of statehood, Georgia happens to be one of the oldest Christian civilisations, where the apostle Andrew went on his missionary trip in the first century and where Christianity was proclaimed a state religion in the early fourth century. The Georgian nation preserved its independence for most of this time and never gave up the idea of freedom even when it was conquered by other empires. We have been cut from the rest of Europe for long enough to be forgotten, but not nearly long enough to lose our European identity and values. That is why, after liberation from 70 years of Soviet tyranny, we did not have much difficulty in choosing our vector towards Europe.
We have had setbacks and internal problems. Soviet authorities tried to prevent Georgian independence by provoking conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in the early 1990s and, later, Russia used them as leverage to prevent us from escaping to the West. The war in Abkhazia in the early 1990s, where separatist forces were heavily supported by Russia, resulted in the expulsion of nearly two thirds of the population, mainly Georgians. The OSCE and UN have recognized this as an ethnic cleansing in their official documents. Georgia still controlled a large part of South Ossetia and ethnic Georgians still constituted nearly half of the region's population before the latest Russian war against Georgia.
After 2003 the building of genuine and successful European democracy gained pace in Georgia. Georgia started consolidating its democratic institutions, corruption was curbed, our economy grew at the highest rate among non-oil-producing countries, the World Bank described Georgia as the number one reformer and foreign direct investment nearly doubled every year.
The Georgian Government made the peaceful resolution of conflicts one of its top priorities and worked closely with the international community. To our dismay, Russia perceived all this as a threat, did everything possible to undermine our economic success, introduced a total economic embargo and blockade, hunted down and expelled ethnic Georgians in Russia en masse and increased its grip on Abkhazia and South Ossetia to prevent conflict resolution.
The Russian Government, guided by its Cold War vision of the world, made Georgia its first target in the campaign to rebuild its imperial status. This war had very little to do with either South Ossetia or Abkhazia, and especially little to do with protecting the people there, who are fake Russian citizens. The Russian Government's claim to being a champion of the rights of the indigenous peoples of Caucasus is laughable at best given its record in the northern Caucasus. This was the war that Russia wanted, planned and started.
In seeking to justify its invasion of Georgia, Russia has claimed that its forces entered Georgian territory only after a purported surprise Georgian assault on Tskhinvali. Georgian Government forces advanced into the Tskhinvali region only after days of intensive shelling that caused civilian deaths in villages under Georgian control and after confirmation that a massive Russian land force, which included so-called volunteers, had begun invading Georgia through the Roki Tunnel. This was the culmination of months of meticulous planning by Russia. Some 40,000 Russian troops were soon occupying Georgia, as part of a simultaneous land, air and sea assault, unfolding a premeditated strategy that had little to do with Russia's stated claim of protecting its recently created "citizens" in the Tskhinvali region.
I do not wish to use clichés, so I will give more specific information on what has happened since 2004. Georgian peace proposals have been repeatedly rejected by Russia since 2004, when the Georgian Government became more active in seeking a peaceful resolution to the conflict. It has been mentioned that Georgia promised not to use force and it is ironic that Georgia was forced to make this promise because the use of force has never been compatible with Georgia's goals regarding these two regions. Georgia's goals were to bring about the peaceful reintegration of the regions and create conditions to allow ethnic Georgians, South Ossetians and Abkhazians live together as they have done for centuries. These goals cannot be achieved by military means. The Georgian Government has actively sought a peaceful resolution to this conflict and has tried to engage the international community, which supported Georgia's peaceful proposals. Unfortunately, Russia's policy is to block the peace process by using its position as a peacekeeping monopoly in the region.
Since 2005 Russia has gained a stranglehold over separatist governments. I have here a list of South Ossetian officials, Government Ministers, military heads and security agency heads. This shows that these were Russian officials and officers directly seconded from ministries, special services and the army to lead what they called the Ossetian Government.
In 2006 Russia built an illegal base near Tskhinvali with a capacity of 2,500 soldiers and substantial fuel storage capabilities for tanks and armoured vehicles. In March this year, the CIS arms and economic embargo on Abkhazia was unilaterally and illegally lifted by Moscow. The international community condemned the decree issued by the Russian Government, represented by President Putin, establishing direct official ties with the separatist governments in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali.
The United Nations and the OSCE confirmed that Russia had downed a Georgian unmanned surveillance aerial vehicle inside Georgian airspace in April this year. In May Russia increased its troop presence and introduced paratroopers into Abkhazia. It then illegally moved heavy weaponry and offensive forces into Abkhazia in May and June. These included weapons and armed units which had nothing to do with Russia's peacekeeping mandate. In May, Russia moved its railroad troops into Abkhazia and upgraded the existing railway tracks to enable them to carry tanks and heavy armour, which they did during this war.
A peace plan was proposed by the German Government in July which was, again, rejected by the Russian Government. The Foreign Minister, Mr. Lavrov, said it could not work because it contained a very important element — the right of return for internally displaced Georgian people to their homes — and this was not acceptable. In other words, Russia continued to support the results of the ethnic cleansing.
Early in July, separatist leaders in South Ossetia attempted to assassinate the leader of the unionist pro-Georgian Ossetian Government. This sparked a series of attacks, including roadside bombs, on Georgian police forces and the Georgian sections of the peacekeeping force in the region. In July, Russia undertook large-scale military exercises near South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Several thousand troops and hundreds of tanks were involved and they failed to redeploy after the exercises. The separatists finally rejected the German-mediated plan. The UN organised peace talks in July at which the separatists failed to appear; in late July, the OSCE proposed peace talks, which the separatists rejected.
The developments described, especially in 2008, clearly show that this war had been planned for a long time. I have further detailed description and a time line of events which I forwarded to committee members previously, so I will not read them.