PM comments on chances of meeting between Georgian-Russian foreign ministers

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has stated that a meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister should be based on decisions focused on Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The PM said that Georgian Foreign Minister Mikheil Janelidze’s statement was not unreasonable when Janelidze did not exclude the possibility of a meeting with the Russian official.

According to the PM, if the above-mentioned decisions are prepared, the Georgian government will be ready to meet with the Russian side. “Mikheil Janelidze’s statement expressed this point of view. There was no reason to be surprised by it,’ Kvirikashvili said.

Kvirikashvili stressed that Georgia needs to normalize relations with Russia but not by making compromises in terms of territorial integrity issues.

“Unfortunately, our relations are in a deadlock, and though we should come out of it, it must not be at the expense of compromise in territorial integrity issues,” he added.

If the Georgian and Russian officials eventually meet, the key issue must be Georgia’s de-occupation as Russia currently occupies 20% of Georgia's land.

Russia also recognizes the occupied regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali as independent republics and provides financial support for them.

At the same time, Russia is categorically against Georgia’s NATO integration, and Russia actively uses the de-facto regions as levers against Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic integration.

It will be hard for NATO to fully accept Georgia with its ongoing territorial conflicts and difficulties with such a powerful country as Russia.

However it is also a fact that Georgia needs development and advancement and such advancement will be unimaginable under renewed Russian rule.

Such issues reveal that Georgia is significant part of world policy and many of the key issues related to Georgia can only be settled in a wider context.