Zourabichvili: Russia Faces a Choice
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili told the Russian news agency Regnum that further actions towards Russia by Georgia will depend on the choices made by Moscow.
When responding to a question regarding Moscow’s interference in Abkhazia and Georgia’s approaches to this issue, Zourabichvili said “to some extent, it is not for us but for Russia to make a choice on which side it should be on – a neighboring country, which has normal relations with Georgia and can, like other partners of Georgia, maintain a peacekeeping force and participate in various formats [of negotiations] in the UN… or a particpant in these conflicts by directly interfering by supporting one side at times and the other at other times. Based on this choice, we will make our conclusions. So far we have not made a decision, but it is a fact that Russia is facing this choice.”
Zourabichvili indicated, that Georgia has not, so far, approached foreign partners to send their peacekeepers to substitute the Russian ones. She noted, however, that the European Union approaches the region “with ever growing interest”, although does not possess “an active policy” yet.
She also noted that Georgia has not resorted to leveling local and international legal charges against Russian officials who travel to Abkhazia and South Ossetia without proper travel documents or notification of the authorities because “this would be a shift into a policy of confrontation that would create a new kind of situation.”
“We do not have such intentions yet” Zourabichili said. She added, however, that “if there will be no other possibility and we have to resort to these steps to achieve our aims – this can not be ruled out either.”
