Occupied territories of Georgia
In April 2013, Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said after meeting with his Georgian counterpart Maia Panjikidze that Russia respected only a state "that is larger" and therefore the Czech Republic could not mediate between Russia and Georgia. As for Georgia’s future with regard to the occupied territories, the Czech Foreign Minister said Georgia should maintain contacts with them. "It is difficult when your territories are occupied, but sometimes you have to wait for years, even decades before the window of possibilities will be opened for you. I do not know when that time will come, but it will necessarily come", he said.
Occupied territories of Georgia
According to Elizabeth Cullen Dunn and Michael S. Bobick, this situation is called "occupation without occupation" and is a distinctive form of warfare. Vladimir Putin's form of warfare is "the spectacle of dominance", that creates docile populations within the new geographic boundaries of Russia in Europe. The key element of strategy is to use the separatist regions as perches from which to intimidate the larger states that once administered them. A creeping occupation and subsequent takeover of strategic positions in the breakaway regions aim at re-establishing control over Russia's "near abroad". By occupying breakaway provinces and establishing military bases from which to threaten occupation of the rest of Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, Russia can influence the actions of the sovereign states. The "war without war" and "occupation without occupation" is more flexible and cheaper than a real occupation, since the potential target can be rapidly changed.