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Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
Feb 10 2005
Georgia: Saakashvili Ready To Extend 'Friendly Hand' To Putin
Mikheil Saakashvili (file photo)
10 February 2005 -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today said
he is ready to mend fences with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
provided Moscow agrees to compromise on outstanding issues.
Addressing the inaugural meeting of the Georgian parliament's spring
session, Saakashvili today assessed the state of his country, one
year into his mandate.
Touching on foreign policy, the Georgian leader described ties with
neighboring Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey as "idyllic."
Russia, however, remains a different story. But Saakashvili said that
could change -- if Moscow adopts a more compromising attitude on the
countries' disputes.
"On these conditions, I am ready to go again to Moscow," Saakashvili
said. "I am ready to meet again with [Russian] President [Vladimir]
Putin and extend the hand of friendship to him. This hand,
unfortunately, has been hanging in the air since we met about a year
ago."
Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have been strained by a number
of issues, including what Russia says is Georgia's support of Chechen
separatist fighters.
Shortly after his election in January 2004, Saakashvili visited
Moscow with pledges to give bilateral ties a fresh start. He offered
to set up joint patrols and checkpoints along the Chechen section of
Russia's border with Georgia, to ensure that separatist fighters
could not use the South Caucasus country as a safe haven.
Relations began to improve, with Georgian security forces discreetly
extraditing a number of Chechen fighters to Russia. Last spring,
dozens of Moscow businessmen traveled to Tbilisi for the first
Russian-Georgian economic forum.
But tensions began to return last summer, when Saakashvili dispatched
troops near and in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia,
officially to combat local contraband rings.
The move triggered a weeklong series of deadly skirmishes that
threatened to reignite the 12-year-old Georgian-South Ossetian war.
Russia, which has supported South Ossetia since it gained de facto
independence, blamed Tbilisi for the renewed tension. Shortly
afterward, Moscow renewed accusations that Georgia is sheltering
Chechen fighters.
Moscow and Tbilisi also remain at odds over the fate of Russia's two
remaining military bases in Georgia.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has
repeatedly asked Moscow to honor a 1999 commitment to vacate its
Georgian bases.
Russia says it will take at least another decade to complete such an
expensive and logistically complex move.
The Kremlin fears Georgia, which has set its sights on eventual NATO
membership, may one day use the Russian bases to host Western troops.
But Saakashvili today reiterated an earlier pledge that no foreign
soldiers will be stationed on Georgian soil once the Russians depart.
"There are certain principles all [Georgian] political forces and
parties must agree upon," he said. "These principles are those of
Georgia's European integration and the absence of foreign military
bases on its territory."
The Georgian president also warned that anyone opposed to those
objectives would be prosecuted.
"All those parties that will say Georgia should not move along the
path towards European integration, and that it should not seek
membership into those European institutions we want to join, all
those parties that will say foreign military bases should be deployed
on our soil and that foreigners should be allowed to interfere in the
development of our country -- either militarily or in any other way
-- all those political parties must be automatically outlawed,"
Saakashvili said.
It was not immediately clear which parties or groupings Saakashvili
had in mind.
(Compiled from wire service reports.)
Feb 10 2005
Georgia: Saakashvili Ready To Extend 'Friendly Hand' To Putin
Mikheil Saakashvili (file photo)
10 February 2005 -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili today said
he is ready to mend fences with Russian President Vladimir Putin,
provided Moscow agrees to compromise on outstanding issues.
Addressing the inaugural meeting of the Georgian parliament's spring
session, Saakashvili today assessed the state of his country, one
year into his mandate.
Touching on foreign policy, the Georgian leader described ties with
neighboring Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey as "idyllic."
Russia, however, remains a different story. But Saakashvili said that
could change -- if Moscow adopts a more compromising attitude on the
countries' disputes.
"On these conditions, I am ready to go again to Moscow," Saakashvili
said. "I am ready to meet again with [Russian] President [Vladimir]
Putin and extend the hand of friendship to him. This hand,
unfortunately, has been hanging in the air since we met about a year
ago."
Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have been strained by a number
of issues, including what Russia says is Georgia's support of Chechen
separatist fighters.
Shortly after his election in January 2004, Saakashvili visited
Moscow with pledges to give bilateral ties a fresh start. He offered
to set up joint patrols and checkpoints along the Chechen section of
Russia's border with Georgia, to ensure that separatist fighters
could not use the South Caucasus country as a safe haven.
Relations began to improve, with Georgian security forces discreetly
extraditing a number of Chechen fighters to Russia. Last spring,
dozens of Moscow businessmen traveled to Tbilisi for the first
Russian-Georgian economic forum.
But tensions began to return last summer, when Saakashvili dispatched
troops near and in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia,
officially to combat local contraband rings.
The move triggered a weeklong series of deadly skirmishes that
threatened to reignite the 12-year-old Georgian-South Ossetian war.
Russia, which has supported South Ossetia since it gained de facto
independence, blamed Tbilisi for the renewed tension. Shortly
afterward, Moscow renewed accusations that Georgia is sheltering
Chechen fighters.
Moscow and Tbilisi also remain at odds over the fate of Russia's two
remaining military bases in Georgia.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has
repeatedly asked Moscow to honor a 1999 commitment to vacate its
Georgian bases.
Russia says it will take at least another decade to complete such an
expensive and logistically complex move.
The Kremlin fears Georgia, which has set its sights on eventual NATO
membership, may one day use the Russian bases to host Western troops.
But Saakashvili today reiterated an earlier pledge that no foreign
soldiers will be stationed on Georgian soil once the Russians depart.
"There are certain principles all [Georgian] political forces and
parties must agree upon," he said. "These principles are those of
Georgia's European integration and the absence of foreign military
bases on its territory."
The Georgian president also warned that anyone opposed to those
objectives would be prosecuted.
"All those parties that will say Georgia should not move along the
path towards European integration, and that it should not seek
membership into those European institutions we want to join, all
those parties that will say foreign military bases should be deployed
on our soil and that foreigners should be allowed to interfere in the
development of our country -- either militarily or in any other way
-- all those political parties must be automatically outlawed,"
Saakashvili said.
It was not immediately clear which parties or groupings Saakashvili
had in mind.
(Compiled from wire service reports.)