GEORGIAN BORDER TO REOPEN

Moscow Times
Dec 28 2009
Russia

TBILISI, Georgia — Georgia and Russia have reached a deal to open a
border crossing that has been closed for three years, Georgia said,
marking a significant thaw in diplomatic relations since last year’s
war between the two countries.

The Verkhny Lars crossing is expected to open next March after an
agreement was reached during Swiss-brokered talks Wednesday, Deputy
Foreign Minister Nino Kalandadze said.

Verkhny Lars is the only highway crossing between Russia and Georgia
that does not go through the Kremlin-backed breakaway provinces of
Abkhazia and South Ossetia, where most of the fighting was concentrated
in the August 2008 war.

The opening would be the first concrete step in recent efforts to
restore transport links between the two neighbors. President Dmitry
Medvedev said earlier this month that he saw no reason to keep the
crossing closed or to ban direct flights.

On Tuesday, the Georgian airline Airzena filed a plea with the Russian
Transportation Ministry to allow regular flights into Russia to resume,
and Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov signaled Thursday that the
application would be approved. The closing of Verkhny Lars dealt a
severe blow to Armenia, which was no longer able to receive direct
overground transports of Russian goods through Georgia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress