The United Nations Security Council considered the situation in the Georgian territories occupied by the Russian Federation and the issue of the Russia-Georgia conflict.
On 18 August 2025, the United Nations Security Council held a closed meeting to discuss the situation in the Georgian territories occupied by the Russian Federation and the issue of the Russia-Georgia conflict, on the occasion of the seventeenth anniversary of the 2008 war.
During the meeting, Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, delivered a briefing, providing Council members with updated information on the situation on the ground as well as on the process of the Geneva International Discussions.
Following the session, representatives of the United Kingdom, France, Slovenia, Denmark, and Greece - members of the Security Council - together with the representative of Latvia, a forthcoming Council member, issued a joint statement to the media.
In their statement, they recalled that Seventeen years have passed since Russia’s aggression and subsequent illegal military presence in Georgia’s territories of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali/South Ossetia regions. The Russian invasion of Georgia in August 2008 demonstrated the start of Russia's more aggressive stance towards its neighbours. Russia has continued down this path with its unprovoked and unjustified aggression against Ukraine.
The statement reaffirmed Georgia’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders. It condemned, Russia’s brutal invasion and continued illegal military presence in contravention of the UN Charter and exercising of effective control and taking steps toward annexation of the two Georgian regions.
The document further expressed profound concern that the Russian Federation has failed to comply with its obligations under the EU-mediated ceasefire agreement of 12 August 2008, in particular to withdraw its forces to the lines held prior to the outbreak of hostilities and to ensure unhindered access for international human rights monitoring mechanisms, such as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. According to the statement, the countries remain firmly committed to the Geneva International Discussions (GID).