MOSCOW, TBILISI HOLDING SECRET TALKS?
PanARMENIAN.Net
23.12.2008 14:33 GMT+04:00
Georgia has had secret talks through intermediaries with Russian
officials about restoring direct flights and diplomatic ties after
the August war, the Kommersant daily reported Tuesday.
The newspaper said that the key intermediary in the talks has been
Mikheil Khubutia, the head of the Union of Georgians in Russia, who
the paper said met Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on November
21 in Munich.
"I spoke recently to Saakashvili," Khubutia told the newspaper, without
confirming the date of his meeting with the president or that he had
met Russian officials.
"We discussed restoring flights between Georgia and Russia and
restoring diplomatic relations," he said. "He seems disappointed
that Georgia has not been given an action plan for NATO membership
and that he has not received the due support from Europe," he added.
However talks on a resumption of ties would be a major turnaround amid
the current war of words between Moscow and Tbilisi in the aftermath
of their August conflict over Georgian pro-Russian breakaway regions.
Kommersant also quoted sources close to the Russian presidency as
saying that there was no hope for a solution as long as the pro-Western
Saakashvili remained in power.
"He understands that himself. He needs to vacate his post rather than
trying to find a way out of this dead end."