Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said on April 23 that Russia, as a mediator, would never hold talks with the alternative government of South Ossetia, RIA Novosti news agency reported
?Certainly, we will not [hold talks]?Currently an active PR campaign is being carried out in favor of the alternative government. They [Georgian authorities] will later start bringing foreign officials there and at a certain point they will say this is the genuine side in the conflict and all others are not. In this way, they will turn this puppet government into the main party,? RIA Novosti quoted Karasin as saying.
He also said that by creating ?artificial structures? Tbilisi loses trust with the current governments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. ?Now they will not believe in anything,? Karasin added.
The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister was speaking with Georgian reporters in Moscow, where he also answered questions about conflicts and Georgia?s Euro-Atlantic aspirations.
?The Russian side stressed its firm aspiration to develop neighborly relations with Georgia based on mutual respect and taking into account mutual interests, to promote the quickest peaceful resolution of conflicts through the existing negotiating and peacekeeping formats,? the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an information note issued on April 24.
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