The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) condemned Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko for meeting the representatives of Abkhazia’s occupation regime and called on his country to respect Georgia’s territorial integrity.

Alluding to the arrival of Aslan Bzhaniya, a representative of Abkhazia’s occupation regime, in the Republic of Belarus, the Ministry said, “this action blatantly violates the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders and represents an attempt to legitimise the Russian occupation regime.”

“We call on Belarus to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders and to cease activities that contradict the fundamental principles and norms of international law,” the Georgian MFA stated.

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, met with the so-called leader of occupied Abkhazia in Minsk, “Why does the Georgian leadership react so harshly to meetings with the Abkhazians?” Lukashenko said during the meeting, “maybe these meetings serve friendship between Abkhazians and Georgians.”