Moscow wants PACE to stop talking about it

“Moscow hopes that PACE will close the Russian-Georgian file”, head of the Russian delegation to PACE Leonid Slutskiy has stated, Russian newspaper Kommersant reports.

He specified that Moscow hopes that the monitoring committee of the assembly will close the dossier opened after the Russian-Georgian War at today's session. “More deputies incline to the view that it would be more rational to compile separate reports and monitor the fulfillment of PACE requirements by Russia and Georgia separately instead of continuing to add to this dossier," he said.

Kommersant comments that if Slutskiy’s desire is fulfilled reports by the monitoring committee on conflict outcomes, which have become a headache for Moscow, will be things of the past.

Political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze has told The Messenger that he does not think that PACE will close discussion of the Russian-Georgian issue. “This issue disturbs Russia, and it wants it to go away, however the closure of this dossier depends on the countries of the Council of Europe, and Europe needs it to put pressure on the Russian Federation, make political claims and gain some dividends from them, thus it is not likely that this file will be closed,” stated Sakvarelidze.

PACE is planning to discuss Russian-Georgian conflict resolution at today’s session.