Saakashvili on his Talks with Medvedev
President Saakashvili said that although the tone of the talks with his Russian counterpart was better than previously, the major issues still remained unresolved.
Speaking in an interview with Rustavi 2 TV aired late on June 9, Saakashvili said that Georgia’s immediate goal in respect of Abkhazia was to achieve the withdrawal of additional Russian troops from the region and the cessation of ongoing repair work on railway infrastructure by Russian Railway Forces there.
“The tone and atmosphere in themselves were different from what I got used to during my Moscow visits and in my experience with Russia.” Saakashvili said. "It was more like a quiet conversation, but I must say that the major issues remain [unresolved]. The major issue is very simple – in recent days, in recent weeks the conflict has moved beyond its frozen condition; a process, which from the legal point of view can be assessed as annexation, is now ongoing and what the [Russian] Railway Forces are now doing there, along with the deployment of paratroopers, is in fact the beginning of military intervention.”
He said that Georgia was not against the restoration of the rail link per se. What was happening in Abkhazia now, however, he said, had nothing to do with restoring the railway connection. Instead, he said, it was a prelude to military intervention.
“Vis-a-vis the railway restoration, previously we proposed to Russia: let’s bring in a European consortium, let’s engage in the EU in the process, let’s announce an international tender; we are now building a huge railway in southern Georgia [that will link Azerbaijan with Turkey via Georgia] and we would have resumed the railway [in Abkhazia] as well with great pleasure under international control,” Saakashvili said. “What is now going on in Abkhazia is the preparation of the railway for the transportation of tanks and military hardware.”
