Georgian MPs to Visits Moscow
A Georgian parliamentary delegation, led by Vice-Speaker Mikheil Machavariani, will pay a visit to Moscow in the near future, the Georgian media sources reported.
This visit will follow a trip by a group of Russian parliamentarians from the State Duma to Georgia on February 14-16. The Russian parliamentarians held talks with their Georgian counterparts and also traveled to breakaway South Ossetia and met with President of unrecognized republic Eduard Kokoity.
The Russian parliamentarians, led by Mikhail Babich, Deputy Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma, reiterated that the Russian peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia is crucial for maintaining stability in the region.
The Georgian parliamentarians expressed hope that dialogue between the Parliaments of the two countries will further intensify.
“The resolution adopted by the [Georgian] Parliament envisages negotiations… We offer you to revise the Sochi agreement [the legal base for the current peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia], because if this process has turned off the road, we will enforce article 4 [of the October 11 resolution], which envisages the withdrawal of the peacekeepers,” MP Givi Targamadze, the Chairman of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security, said at a joint press conference with his Russian counterparts on February 16.
“We are absolutely open for cooperation, we are far from [endorsing]militant ideas and do not want tensions,” he added.
