Translated material
Improvement map
Georgia will offer Russia a path of compromise
The initiative of the re-elected Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to restore relations with Russia , announced in his inaugural speech on Sunday, received diplomatic development yesterday. The Georgian Foreign Ministry has announced a time frame for putting forward specific proposals to improve the political climate in relations between the countries. Acting Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili (the government is currently being formed anew in Georgia) said that they would be presented to Tbilisi “in the next two to three weeks.”“We will put our vision on paper, relatively speaking, we will create an external map for improving Georgian-Russian relations. Without reciprocal steps, nothing will work out - it must be a two-way path that involves compromises. We are ready for compromises, but not at the expense of our national interests,” said Mr. Bezhuashvili. He believes that “parity must be completely restored” in relations between the two countries. “All obstacles to rapprochement must be removed, and these are the economic embargo, the closed border and others,” said the acting. minister. According to the Rustavi-2 television company, Bezhuashvili’s visit to Moscow is possible soon. Let us recall that at the presidential inauguration ceremony Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - the head of Georgia had his first meeting with him after taking office.
“It is vital for Georgia to normalize relations with Russia,” Professor Georgiy Khutsishvili, director of the Tbilisi-based International Center for Conflict and Negotiations, told Vremya Novostey. - This is also necessary for stability in the entire region. Mutual trust between Moscow and Tbilisi is now at zero. Russia does not believe in the seriousness of our intentions to restore good neighborliness, Georgia doubts that Russia is sincere about it. But we need to intensify diplomatic contacts and convince Russia that our desire to enter the Euro-Atlantic space does not mean confrontation with it.” The expert expects Russia, first of all, to lift visa restrictions and restore transport links.
The peak of the Russian-Georgian confrontation was 2006. In the spring, Russia banned Georgian alcohol and mineral waters due to adulteration. After this, the export of Georgian wine decreased by almost half. The head of the Union of Georgian Wine Producers, Levan Koberidze, told VN that Georgia loses $120 million annually from the Russian embargo. In the fall of 2006, Georgia arrested four Russian officers on suspicion of espionage. In response, Russia temporarily recalled its ambassador, stopped transport and postal communications, and tightened the issuance of visas. In 2007, Georgia twice - in the spring and summer - accused Russia of bombing Georgian territory. Tbilisi is also dissatisfied with Russian mediation in resolving the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. During the internal political crisis in November last year, the Georgian authorities accused the opposition of “defamatory ties” with Moscow and even expelled three Russian diplomats, which was extremely negatively received by the Russian side.
Mikheil Saakashvili will speak about Russian-Georgian relations in Strasbourg on January 24 during a speech at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The Russian delegation considered it premature to give him a platform before parliamentary elections were held in Georgia in the spring. When voting on the issue of invitation, one European vote prevailed in favor of Saakashvili. But now Russian deputies in PACE will be able to personally ask the Georgian president hard-hitting questions.