Georgian President demands concessions from Russia
The main conclusion from the anti-Russian protests in Georgia is that Moscow must agree to raise the level of negotiations on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, excluding representatives of the republics unrecognized by Tbilisi from the process.
Georgian President Salone Zurabishvili made this clear on the DW TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Diplomatic relations between Georgia and Russia have been interrupted since August 2008 by decision of Tbilisi - in response to Moscow’s recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The “Geneva format” is the only negotiations after the war in which the parties to the conflict, as well as representatives of the EU, USA, OSCE and UN, participated. Meetings took place 4 times a year, and were attended by officials from the level up to deputy foreign ministers.
Georgia has repeatedly stated that the Geneva format allows solving only current problems - Tbilisi proposed raising the level of negotiations to the level of prime ministers or even presidents.
However, at the same time, Georgia insisted that representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, whose independence Tbilisi refuses to recognize, be excluded from the negotiations.
Zurabishvili said in a new interview that changing the format of negotiations is one of the main goals of protesters in Georgia.
“Georgia has finally and officially renounced the use of force, and this is our realistic approach to the situation.
At this stage, Georgia does not have diplomatic means to resolve the issue of the occupied territories, because we do not have diplomatic relations with Russia. But something needs to be done about this. And, in my opinion, this is exactly what the participants in the trials wanted to convey to us.
We all must do something, together with our European partners in the Geneva format. This format has gradually lost - no, not its significance, since there is no other format, and we desperately need it, however, it must be raised to a new political level in order for it to really work.
He must solve problems, and not just solve technical issues,” Zurabishvili said.
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