BURJANADZE ALLEGES GEORGIAN RAILWAYS TO BE SOLD TO RUSSIA

Messenger.ge
July 7, 2009

One of the leaders of the opposition, former Chair of Parliament Nino
Burjanadze, has made a special statement alleging that the Georgian
leadership is carrying out confidential negotiations to sell Georgian
Railways to Russia. This statement is made while the Government itself
is continually saying that the non-Parliamentary opposition in general
and Nino Burjanadze herself have certain contacts with Russia. In her
statement Burjanadze says that as Georgian state officials are facing
serious problems in collecting budgetary revenues selling the railways
is being considered as a way of obtaining budget income. She says that
Moscow already manages the Armenian Railways and has renamed them the
South Caucasus Railways and Moscow has also rehabilitated the Abkhazian
segment of Georgian Railways. Right after the August aggression
the Kremlin said it would create a rail link between Vladikavkaz in
Northern Ossetia and Tskhinvali in South Ossetia. Therefore Russia
plans to get hold of Georgian Railways also to achieve this.

For these reasons Burjanadze concludes that the Georgian leadership
is preparing to give the management of Georgian Railways to the
Russian side, however she warns all the sides that Georgia’s future
administration will revise any such agreements and urges Georgia’s
current leadership, the Russian Federation and our Western friends
not to allow such a contract to be concluded, because as soon as the
current administration is changed all such agreements will be annulled
and these assets will return to the Georgian state and people.

It should be noted that the Georgian Government categorically denies
Burjanadze’s allegations and states that no such step is planned.