Tbilisi condemned as "completely unacceptable" comments by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that the two Georgian breakaway territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia could be formally annexed by Moscow "if there are good reasons."
Medvedev, currently the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, wrote in an opinion piece published on August 23 in the Argumenty i Fakty newspaper that Georgia taking a step such as joining NATO could be such a trigger.
"This is unequivocally a categorically unacceptable statement that we heard from the representative of the state that has occupied the territories of Georgia," Mikheil Sarjveladze, a member of the parliament from the Georgian Dream party, said in a statement on behalf of the government in response to Medvedev's comments.
Georgia and Russia fought a war in 2008 over the breakaway territories -- which declared their intention to become independent from Tbilisi when Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 -- and Moscow continues to prop them up.
Tensions between the two countries have further soared since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year, which prompted hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee their country -- many of them ending up in Georgia.
Ill will linked to the growing Russian presence in Georgia spiked at the end of July when a Russian cruise ship -- with some outspoken war supporters among the onboard entertainers -- made a port call at the resort city of Batumi and was greeted by nationalist protesters, some of whom threw eggs at them.
Medvedev, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin who has been one of the most virulent -- and sometimes most outlandish -- defenders of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, said in his article that if concerns about Georgia's possible membership in the Western military alliance grow in Moscow, the annexation of the territories "could quite possibly be implemented if there are good reasons for that."
"We will not wait if our concerns become closer to reality," Medvedev wrote.
Georgia is not currently a member of NATO but was promised by the military alliance in 2008 to be admitted in the future.
The year 2008 was also when, while serving as Russia's president, Medvedev signed the decrees that recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, leading to their separation from Georgia. Most members of the United Nations have refused to recognize the two regions as independent.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Georgian government has strived to maintain a balanced relationship with Russia.
It has stated support for Ukraine and condemned Russia's invasion but hasn't joined economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by many Western countries, RFE/RL reports.
