Georgian Parliament official condemns “Russia-South Ossetia allied cooperation treaty”, calls it illegal annexation attempt

Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia, on Sunday condemned the so-called treaty on deepening allied cooperation signed in May 2026 between Russia and the Russian-occupied region of South Ossetia, describing it as a gross violation of international law and another attempt at de facto annexation.

Speaking during the 33rd Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's General Committee on Political Affairs and Security, Samkharadze thanked the rapporteur for including information about Russia's occupation of Georgian territories in the committee's report.

“First of all, I would like to thank the rapporteur for the report and for including information about the occupation of Georgia’s territories by the Russian Federation in the report agreed upon in Vienna. This is very important because Georgia has been suffering from occupation for the last thirty years. In this context, we also want to strongly condemn the so-called treaty on deepening allied cooperation signed this May between the Russian Federation and the so-called South Ossetia”, he said.

The official further noted that the document constitutes a gross violation of international law.

“This document represents a gross violation of international law and is yet another desperate attempt by Moscow to consolidate the occupation and strengthen the de facto annexation of territories that are internationally recognised as an integral part of Georgia. In doing so, we remind the international community, including the Russian Federation, that any so-called treaty, agreement, or other act concluded by the self-proclaimed authorities of the occupied regions is null and void by its very nature and will be regarded as such”, Samkharadze noted.

Samkharadze also commented on the OSCE’s Moscow Mechanism report, arguing that it did not receive the support of a majority of OSCE participating states.

“I would also like to draw your attention to another issue in the report concerning the Moscow Mechanism. I would like to inform the committee that the use of the Moscow Mechanism and its conclusions were not supported by the majority of the OSCE participating states, including the United States, France, Spain, Italy, and others. I will not name them all. 34 member states did not support or approve this conclusion, so this is an important, very important fact that should be noted”, he stressed.

The Chair highlighted that the report was prepared by one expert in only 71 hours and contains many factual inaccuracies, with the expert himself admitting insufficient time to gather evidence.

“In addition, a report prepared by one expert in 71 hours contains many factual inaccuracies and accusations. The expert himself admitted that he did not have enough time to gather evidence for all the accusations. When the report was discussed in the OSCE Permanent Council, the government of Georgia also expressed its position on the report”, he noted.

While some recommendations in the report were acceptable and partially implemented, Samkharadze stressed that it could not be considered the final truth.

“Therefore, we cannot consider the report as the final truth, because, as I mentioned, the expert himself admitted that he could not collect sufficient evidence for the report. Of course, there are certain recommendations that we agree with and some of which have already been implemented. However, I would like to note once again that this report has certain shortcomings from the point of view of factual accuracy. Thank you very much and we look forward to continuing the debate on this issue”, Samkharadze concluded.