TBILISI WAITS FOR RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER’S VISIT WITH MIXED FEELINGS AND PRACTICAL PROPOSALS

RIA Novosti, Russia
Feb 16 2005

TBILISI, February 16 (RIA Novosti) – In Tbilisi, Russia’s foreign
minister will be offered practical proposals on the normalization of
Russian-Georgian relations. Salome Zurabishvili, Georgia’s foreign
minister, said this addressing the republic’s parliament Wednesday.

In her words, the Georgian side “looks at Sergei Lavrov’s official
visit calmly, openly and positively.” Sergei Lavrov will arrive in
Tbilisi on the evening of February 17.

“I cannot say that we expect positive results from the forthcoming
visit; it is hard to say anything against the present backdrop,”
Salome Zurabishvili noted.

She said that “the Georgian side prepared practical proposals for
Sergei Lavrov and, should they be approved, the results could be
expected within the next three months. She did not rule out that “the
first steps towards normalizing Russian-Georgian relations could be
made in this period.”

Salome Zurabishvili stressed that “if Russia and Georgia fail to take
steps towards normalizing their relations in the near future, it will
be of no use to talk about a framework agreement or anything else.”

According to Zurabishvili , “the Georgian leadership has no intention
to deploy foreign states’ military bases on its territory. She pointed
out that representatives of the US Administration said repeatedly that
the United States had no plans to deploy US military bases in Georgia.

At the same time, Salome Zurabishvili underlined that “the issue of
Georgia’s refusal to deploy foreign military bases on its territory
cannot be a subject of the Russian-Georgian framework agreement
(Moscow still maintains two military bases in Georgia, in Adzharia
and Akhalkalaki near the border with Armenia).”

The Georgian foreign minister pointed out “there is no talk of any
concessions to Russia on the issue of influence in the region.” To
quote her, “such a country as Russia will always have influence in
the region However, it is important [to understand] in what form and
at what level Russia will exercise this influence.”

Salome Zurabishvili expressed the Georgian side’s readiness to discuss
all pressing issues in Russian-Georgian relations. “We have no border
problems, no visa regime problems, or problems related to the agreement
[between our two countries]. Our problem is that we do not know what
Russia really wants,” Georgia’s foreign minister said in conclusion.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress