Drop Abkhaz, S.Ossetia Plans to Improve Ties with Tbilisi ? Burjanadze to Moscow
The Russian president?s instructions to his government ?to normalize ties with Georgia? can only be perceived as ?sincere? if Russia repeals its April 16 decision to establish legal links with breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Nino Burjanadze, the Georgian parliamentary chairperson, said on April 18.
?Georgia is ready to normalize relations with Russia,? she told journalists. ?But these relations can not be normal at the expense of our national interests. Today?s statement about gradual normalization of ties with Georgia raises question marks. What kind of normalization can we talk about in light of the April 16 instructions??
?If today?s statement is sincere and it is not simply a trick to delude the international community, then we first of all expect that Russia would annul the April 16 instructions. Because speaking about normalization of ties with Georgia on the one hand and establishing special relations with Georgia?s integral parts [Abkhazia and South Ossetia] on the other hand are totally incompatible? If [Russia] normalizes ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia it automatically rules out positive steps towards Georgia. I really want to believe that today?s decision is a sincere step undertaken to improve ties with Georgia, but it can gain value only if the April 16 decision is annulled. If someone wants to have normal relations with Georgia, it should have these ties with a unified Georgia involving Abkhazia and South Ossetia in it and it should respect Georgia?s sovereignty and territorial integrity in its internationally recognized border.?
