Duda: Russia is not a normal country, it is a senior state

On Wednesday, the president visited the administrative demarcation line between Georgia and South Ossetia (the Cchinwals region in Opisi), where the EU observation mission, headed by Marek Szczygieł - a place that in November 2008.The then President of the Republic of Poland Lech Kaczyński visited.

President Duda pointed out that these Georgian areas, contrary to international law, were occupied by Russia."This is a Russian military base, which should not be there, because in accordance with the agreements that were concluded in 2008.During the Russian invasion of Georgia, the Russian troops were to withdraw from here, there were no Russian garrisons in the area, which is called the region of cchinals by the Georgians, the Russians call it South Osetia " - said the head of the state, indicating that he is currently stationed hereSeveral thousand Russian soldiers and FSB forces.

"There are two such regions in Georgia: one is this region of the Cchinwals, i.e. South Ossetia.The second is abchazia.In both Russians, they created the same situation, attacked the Georgian land, occupy these areas, try to create quasi-state entities and destabilize the situation "-said Duda."Today, the same is also happening in the Ukrainian lands, the Crimea, the Lugansk and Donetsk region," he added.

"If the international community tolerates this, this type of behavior will repeat themselves and we must not allow it," he said.

"Russian, aggressive, imperial actions that take people development opportunities, take people a normal life, lead to destruction of states, to a war situation, when people die, they are wounded, these are activities that cannot be accepted by the international community.Russia is not a normal country, it is not a country that behaves normally;He is a senior state, it can be seen in such places as this " - said President Duda.

He emphasized that "this requires decisive actions from the international community".He noted that in 2022 Poland would cover the presidency of the OSCE."We will talk about these matters, we will raise them at the UN General Assembly forum or in the UN Human Rights Council, in which we are currently a member" - he announced.

The president emphasized that "only on the path of permanent diplomatic activities can be demanded, seemingly seemingly very simple - compliance with international law".

"If Russia observed international law, such as here, such as the creation of this area occupied by Russia, called the region of Cchinwals here in Georgia or South Ossetia, or near Abkhazia, would never take place, and they are a fact because Russia violates international law" - he said.

Duda emphasized that visiting in this place is a great experience for him.As he said, the inhabitants of these areas are in a very difficult situation."In September 2019.This part of the demarcation was completely closed by the Russians, and today only in exceptional situations someone can cross it.Residents who are still there - and there are about 40,000 of them, although before the war over 100,000 people lived there, especially Georgians - they are in a dramatic situation, closed " - said the president.

He noted that the Russian infrastructure has developed in recent years.There are cameras, monitoring devices everywhere, it can be seen that this area is observing, and residents cannot move freely - he added.

The president emphasized that the demarcation line cannot be called the international limit."This is a line distincting areas under Russian occupation from areas that are located under the real Georgian administration," he said.

"Every responsible politician who wants to understand the international situation and know what is actually happening should come to such a place as and see how this situation looks and what we are talking about when we talk about Russian imperial policy - that these are not simplyOnly words, these are facts, these are empty houses, these are exiled people, these are military bases that arise in an unauthorized manner with breaking all the principles of international law and the agreements that Russia concluded, "said President Duda.