Saakashvili: We Need no Confrontation

President Saakashvili said in an interview with the Rustavi 2 television station on July 20, that he will visit Moscow to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in order to defuse confrontation between the two countries.

The Georgian leader will leave for Moscow on July 21 where he is expected to hold talks with Putin on a sideline of an informal summit of CIS leaders.

The meeting will take place few days after the Georgian Parliament passed a resolution on July 18 instructing the Georgian government to launch procedures for Russian peacekeeping troops from the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflict zones.

?Final decision [on peacekeepers] is up to us ? the executive authorities, so it is not true if someone thinks that the Parliament?s resolution will lead to disorders,? Saakashvili said and added that confrontation and hostilities in the conflict zones is not in Georgia?s interests, whose economy ?is growing rapidly.?

He said that relations with Russia ?are full of problems,? but Georgia is ready for a dialogue.

?Our major goal, against the background of the Parliament?s resolution and against the background of these tensions, is to avoid any kind of confrontation. Our goal is not looking for certain pretexts for staging confrontation,? the Georgian President said.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)