President Keeps Silent on Peacekeepers

In his annual state of the nation address to the Parliament on February 14 President Saakashvili said nothing about his position on the ongoing debates about the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces from the South Ossetian conflict zone.

But he said during the address that “there is no alternative to Georgia’s reunification.” “We have peace plans [to solve the conflicts],” he added.

“We will be friends to the Abkhazians and Ossetians…  We want our Ossetians back in Georgia. These people are an organic part of the Georgian mentality,” Saakashvili said.

He also said that Russia’s attempt to push the policy of universality of the Kosovo example “will be eradicated by Georgia and the international community.”