Saakashvili Ready to Meet Bagapsh, Kokoity Only in Tbilisi

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said that he is ready to meet with Abkhaz and South Ossetian leaders, Sergey Bagapsh and Eduard Kokoity respectively, only in Tbilisi, adding that he refused to travel to the Russian city of Sochi to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and the separatist leaders because this meeting was unprepared.
 
?I was never going to meet Kokoity and Bagapsh there. If these people want to meet me, they can come to Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. I will give them my address and telephone, both at home and at work? I am not going to go anywhere to meet these people,? President Saakashvili told reporters on April 7.    
 
The Georgian President said, while commenting on his refusal to participate in the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the secessionist leaders that he ?did not so to Sochi because I think that the meeting with the Russian President should be better prepared.?

Despite Saakashvili?s refusal, President Putin met with the Abkhaz and South Ossetian leaders in Sochi on April 5, triggering protests from the Georgian side.

?Unfortunately, we still witness a negligence of the principles of international law by the Russian side? In a civilized world, the leaders of civilized countries never meet leaders of separatist regimes like this,? Giorgi Gomiashvili, the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister, said at a news conference on April 6.

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