The ice has broken: The State Duma will receive a delegation from Georgia
At the end of September, a delegation of Georgian public will travel to Moscow. The delegation will be received by the Russian State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots.
For the first time, a meeting will take place in such an unusual format between representatives of two countries that do not even have diplomatic relations. The coordinator of the public union “New Socialist Movement of Georgia” Temur Pipia, who was part of the delegation, answers PolitNavigator’s questions.
The other day you announced the upcoming trip of a Georgian public delegation to Moscow. Tell us more about the purpose of the visit.
– Representatives of the Georgian public will go to Moscow at the end of September. The main purpose of the Moscow meeting is to discuss issues of a humanitarian and economic nature that have accumulated over the years.
These are issues that concern many Georgian citizens. The visa regime imposed by Russia, the lack of direct flights between Russia and Georgia, the frozen potential of mutually beneficial economic relations for decades, the lack of a unified cultural policy, which inflicts deep wounds on our centuries-old common space - all these problems will be discussed.
The main organizers of the meeting on the Russian side are the Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for CIS Affairs and the A.M. Public Diplomacy Support Fund. Gorchakova. It is noteworthy that the coordinator of this action from the Committee is Sofia Chachia, a Russian woman of Georgian origin.
– Quite a wide range of questions. To what extent will one meeting, even at such a high level, allow these issues to be resolved?
At the first meeting we will touch on the most pressing problems that can be solved now. For example, the problems of removing or significantly easing the visa regime for Georgian citizens and the restoration of direct flights.
We will also ask you to consider the issue of creating a permanent form of communication, a form of public diplomacy. How successful this will be, time will tell. In any case, the fact of the meeting will already be a very positive event. After all, there are not even diplomatic relations between our countries!
– To what extent will the composition of the delegation represent the Georgian public?
The delegation truly represents the wider Georgian public because its composition is diverse. The delegation includes people of a wide range of views - from right-wing conservative to left-wing socialist, businessmen and representatives of culture.
I can name several names: leaders of the conservative party and coordinators of the Alt-Info resource Georgy Kardava and Shota Martinenko, young political scientist, candidate of political sciences Irakli Ubilava, board member of the European Socialists party Viktor Tsaava, famous specialist and professional in international relations, doctor Science Vasil Kapanadze...
– And how did representatives of society with such radically different views manage to “get along” together?
It was not very difficult to gather such a composition. The fact is that we all clearly agree on the need to restore not just friendly relations with Russia, but long-term allied relations.
We also agree that Georgia will not be able to solve any large-scale problem of a social or economic nature that it faces, as well as the problem of peace and security, without a strategic alliance with the Russian Federation.
However, in these matters, small Georgia has something to offer the Russian side. Recent events in the region have proven this firsthand.
– How will the Georgian officialdom perceive such activity on the part of members of the public? Has the trip been agreed upon with the Georgian leadership?
The initiative to establish another line of relations between our countries really comes from the “grassroots”. It was not agreed upon with the political leadership of the country, but the delegation included people loyal to the ruling Georgian Dream.
We fully endorse the restrained and thoughtful foreign policy of the Garibashvili government to minimize threats to the security of Georgia and the region as a whole.
But we also want to contribute to stabilizing the situation and, especially, to easing the economic and social problems facing the population of Georgia. We hope that our efforts will be adequately received and supported by the political leadership.
– You spoke about the creation of a permanent Georgian-Russian platform for public diplomacy, so that the September meeting would take on a regular and focused character. What are the chances of implementing this idea in conditions when there are not even diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and Georgia?
It is in such conditions that this idea must be realized in order to somehow compensate for the lack of interstate relations. I am not a professional diplomat, but I have some experience, and our delegation includes people - Kapanadze, Ubilava - who are well versed in such issues.
We will propose to work in this format and, over time, give the communication a systematic character, and we hope that the answer will be positive because the Committee on CIS Affairs has already engaged in a similar practice, and the Gorchakov Foundation directly specializes in such matters.
The idea of creating a permanent Georgian-Russian platform for public diplomacy was born back in 2015, and its catalyst was the Kyiv events of 2014. We discussed this issue back then with some friends from the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs.
An incomplete, but successful materialization of this idea was the regular contacts of the Committee on CIS Affairs with members of the Georgian Parliament from the right-wing conservative party “Alliance of Patriots”.
Now the time has come to expand the format of communication and make it regular, systematic and long-term.
It is noteworthy that the Lithuanian public, under the leadership of political prisoner and professional diplomat Algirdas Paleckis, and the Belarusian side were ahead of us and have already begun to implement a similar format of public diplomacy.
– Another question, but related to a different topic: after a three-year break, some checkpoints have opened on the demarcation line between Georgia and South Ossetia. How do you evaluate this decision by the Ossetian side?
Very positive! Imagine for yourself, the opening of checkpoints means the opportunity to come to your homes, stay there as long as you need, visit graves, go back, visit relatives, come to Tbilisi for treatment, receive pensions and benefits.
That is, access to many basic benefits has opened for the Georgian (and Ossetian) population of South Ossetia.
We would like to thank the leadership of South Ossetia for their decision and urge them to treat the provocations of the radical Georgian opposition with maximum restraint and rise much higher - to the level of interests of our fraternal peoples.
We also know about the specific positive role of the members of the RF State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs in the above-mentioned good cause, for which we specially thank them.
- Thanks for the interview!
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