Georgia excludes involvement in construction of Avaro-Kakheti road

Georgia strongly dismisses speculations over any plans to construct the Georgian section of Avaro-Kakheti road, a road that is located in Dagestan under Russian control, which can connect Georgia with Russia.

The route can also be used by Russia as the shortest way to transport weapons to Iran in case of some confrontation with the West, analysts say.

The Georgian opposition stresses that Russia very intensively constructed the Dagestan section of the road, and if Moscow had no hopes from Georgia’s involvement in the construction, it would not have spent money on a useless project.

The head of Georgia’s Roads Department, Giorgi Seturidze, says the partial construction of the road by Georgia is “absolutely ruled out”.

The Dagestan Construction Agency has published a video depicting construction of a road at the Vantliashevski pass.

The road crosses several regions of Dagestan, and there is a point of view that the construction is implemented within the framework of the Avaro-Kakheti road project.

But as Seturidze maintains, there has been no dialogue, let alone any decision, concerning the issue with Russia.

“The only legal route to Russia is the Larsi Checkpoint, and the government plans to spend hundreds of millions in this respect in 3-4 years. It is and will be the main road connecting Georgia with Russia. At present we are working on the Devodoraki Tunnel, which will cost up to 50 million USD. We are also drafting a project for the tunnel below the Jvari Pass that will cost approximately 250 million USD,” he said.

According to the Russian media, the restoration of the roads at the Dagestan section of Russian border with Georgia road began on July 2, 2014. This road was closed in 1992.

Russia remains an occupant country, occupying 20 percent of Georgia’s total land.

The Kremlin continues creeping occupation of Georgian lands on daily basis.

Moscow has many times proved that it is a very unreliable partner, using all levers for its own interests.

Permitting the country to find a way to connect with Georgia through another route may create threats for Georgia in the future.

Consequently, the issue is of the utmost importance, and people must know about any decisions over such contentious and dangerous topics.