Russian Ambassador: Moscow Wants Georgia’s Neutrality
Moscow wants Georgia to be independent and neutral state, Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko said at a news conference in Tbilisi on February 6.
The news conference, organized by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti’s Tbilisi office, comes less than a two weeks after Ambassador Kovalenko returned to Tbilisi after four months of absence.
“Russia has never questioned Georgia’s independence, territorial integrity and its sovereignty, but of course with protection of interests of all nations living there. Russia wants to see Georgia which is independent, sovereign and neutral state with neighborly relations with Russia,” Ambassador Kovalenko said.
He said that Georgia has “a unique chance” to implement all these objectives.
“Georgia has no neighbors which are hostile towards [Georgia] and no one is threatening Georgia. Russia has no egoistic interests towards Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia is only aspiring to develop relations based on mutually beneficial and mutually respectful principles,” the Russian diplomat added.
He said that Moscow “has a will to build neighborly relations with Georgia and it is time for a reciprocal steps” by Tbilisi.
“What do we mean by these reciprocal steps? First of all, anti-Russian rhetoric should be stopped in Georgia which we hear almost everyday,” the Russian Ambassador said.
He said that he has returned to Georgia less than two weeks ago, but anti-Russian rhetoric continues anyway.
“We continue to hear statements that Russia is not a friend of Georgia, that Russia has occupied Georgia etc. Next day of my arrival in Tbilisi a so called story about uranium has emerged and facts about this story have been deliberately distorted and statements were made that Russia was not willing to cooperate with Georgia over this issue. This is not true. Moscow has been calling on Tbilisi to create conditions to jointly investigate this case. The Russian General Prosecutor’s Office requested additional materials, which were not sent by Tbilisi,” Vyacheslav Kovalenko said.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
