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TBILISI: What will Saakashvili and Kocharian discuss Lake Sevan?

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  • TBILISI: What will Saakashvili and Kocharian discuss Lake Sevan?

    The Messenger, Georgia
    Aug 22 2005

    What will Saakashvili and Kocharian discuss Lake Sevan?


    Rezonansi asks this question on the cover story Friday, reporting
    that President Mikheil Saakashvili will visit Armenian President
    Robert Kocharian Armenia over the weekend. The newspaper reports the
    visit is scheduled to be unofficial and allow the two presidents to
    relax at the Armenian presidential residence near Lake Sevan.

    Rezonansi reports that Russian media is concerned with the
    possibility that Georgia is attempting to involve Armenia in a new
    alternative to the CIS, an alliance that includes Georgia and
    Ukraine. "The unyielding fighter against the Kremlin Mikheil
    Saakashvili will spend part of his vacation on Lake Sevan. Kocharian
    is betraying Russia," Rezonansi quotes the Russian Nezavisimaya
    Gazeta as writing.

    Rezonansi writes that the head of the Russian political and military
    analysis department Sergei Markedonov tells Nezavisimaya Gazeta that
    Saakashvili might be pushing Armenia toward the West and become an
    intermediary between them. "Saakashvili has been claiming that he
    wishes more than just being the president of Georgia. That's why we
    are so worried. Armenia is the only Russian ally in the South
    Caucasus. The majority of military bases from Georgia will moved and
    deployed in Armenia. Besides, Russia has written off several millions
    in debts of Armenia and has actively been participating in the
    rehabilitation of the Armenian energy system and development of its
    economy. Armenia's closeness to Georgia will mean a heavy blow to
    Russia," Markedonov states.

    According to Rezonansi, the press spokesman for Kocharian disregards
    Russian alarm over the issue claiming that Georgian-Armenian
    relationships are centuries old and do not imply that Georgia' is
    interfering in Russian-Armenian affairs.

    Rezonansi reports that Georgian analyst Vakhtang Khmaladze considers
    the Saakashvili-Kocharian visit is very crucial since there are
    issues that Georgia and Armenia have to discuss like the Abkhaz
    railway, Javakheti and questions of their foreign policies. Khmaladze
    remarks that Russia's fear seems like a "super-power" mentality.

    Georgian political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze tells the paper that it
    is absurd to think about changing Armenian orientation as it is very
    closely attached to Russia and even the United States could not
    manage that despite the Armenian diaspora in the U.S.
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