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VASHADZE ON TIES WITH UKRAINE, RUSSIAN THREAT AND IVANISHVILI
Civil Georgia
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=24916
June 25 2012
Georgia
If Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream is a Georgian project, everything
will be alright'
Georgia and Ukraine have "strategic" cooperation and both countries
face "the same threat," said Georgia's Foreign Minister, Grigol
Vashadze, who visited Ukraine in mid-June, in an interview with the
Ukrainian weekly newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli.
Asked if he was hesitating to visit Ukraine against the background of
refusal of many European leaders and officials to arrive in Ukraine
because of authorities' "persecution of political opponents," Vashadze
responded that he had no hesitation.
"As far as this formulation 'persecution of political opponents'
is concerned, it is not my business to comment on internal political
situation of a sovereign state," Vashadze was quoted in the interview,
published on June 22. "I was not hesitating at all when I was intending
to visit [Ukraine]. In the beginning of this year I have agreed with my
[Ukrainian] colleague Konstantin Grishchenko that I would pay a visit
in Ukraine in June. As a rule, our foreign policy course corresponds
with the one of the European Union and the United States. But there
are differences too and our partners know about it very well,"
He said that relations with Ukraine were among those differences.
"Georgia, first of all, has its national interests. Second: we have
strategic alliance with Ukraine. Third: we have common history.
Fourth: Georgia and Ukraine face the same threat... to our sovereignty
and independence," Vashadze said.
"When plans about creation of Eurasian Union are being announced in
Russia - and people who talk about it, as a rule, are used to keeping
their promises - everyone understands very well that it [Eurasian
Union] is about transformed Soviet Union; to be more precise, it is
about political and military aspects of this collapsed empire. For
that reason, strong, stable and prosperous Ukraine is a vital necessity
for Georgia," Vashadze said.
He also reiterated Tbilisi's claims that Russia's planned large-scale
military exercises Kavkaz-2012 were timed deliberately to coincide
with Georgia's parliamentary elections, scheduled for October.
Vashadze recalled that Russia held in North Caucasus similar military
exercises just ahead of the August, 2008 war.
He said that Georgia "is an absolute necessity" for the Russian
leadership, which he described as "LLC Kremlin Inc.", because of
several reasons and among them he listed: Moscow's aim to cut off
alternative energy transit routes to Europe; control over the entire
South Caucasus; undermining Georgia's reforms, which "annoy" and
"irritate" Moscow; undermining Georgia's NATO integration.
"Reason behind this policy is that the Kremlin tries to restore
the Soviet Union. This is a declared political goal... Any
military-political complication in the region - Nagorno-Karabakh,
Iran - can serve as a pretext for [Russia's] military aggression
[against Georgia]," he said.
He also said, that military confrontation between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh "will bury sovereignty and
independence of all three South Caucasus states" and expressed hope
that OSCE Minsk Group would be able to defuse recent tensions in the
region. He, however, also said that "third party" was trying to derail
Minks Group's efforts and to keep tensions in the region.
Asked about upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia and Bidzina
Ivanishvili-led opposition coalition Georgian Dream, Vashadze said
that elections in October would be "exemplary."
"If financier and businessman Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream is a
Georgian project, then everything will be alright. If the Georgian
Dream has roots in Moscow and if it is a post-election project, then
there will be complications. But in any case, elections will be held
in an exemplary way in Georgia," he said.
"These elections [both this year's parliamentary and next year's
presidential elections] should turn into a watershed; these elections
should strengthen Georgian political elite and should ultimately
demonstrate to the world that Georgia is a democratic state, not a
transitional one. If these elections are held as we want, excellent
prospects will open up for Georgia," Vashadze said.
From: Baghdasarian
Civil Georgia
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=24916
June 25 2012
Georgia
If Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream is a Georgian project, everything
will be alright'
Georgia and Ukraine have "strategic" cooperation and both countries
face "the same threat," said Georgia's Foreign Minister, Grigol
Vashadze, who visited Ukraine in mid-June, in an interview with the
Ukrainian weekly newspaper Zerkalo Nedeli.
Asked if he was hesitating to visit Ukraine against the background of
refusal of many European leaders and officials to arrive in Ukraine
because of authorities' "persecution of political opponents," Vashadze
responded that he had no hesitation.
"As far as this formulation 'persecution of political opponents'
is concerned, it is not my business to comment on internal political
situation of a sovereign state," Vashadze was quoted in the interview,
published on June 22. "I was not hesitating at all when I was intending
to visit [Ukraine]. In the beginning of this year I have agreed with my
[Ukrainian] colleague Konstantin Grishchenko that I would pay a visit
in Ukraine in June. As a rule, our foreign policy course corresponds
with the one of the European Union and the United States. But there
are differences too and our partners know about it very well,"
He said that relations with Ukraine were among those differences.
"Georgia, first of all, has its national interests. Second: we have
strategic alliance with Ukraine. Third: we have common history.
Fourth: Georgia and Ukraine face the same threat... to our sovereignty
and independence," Vashadze said.
"When plans about creation of Eurasian Union are being announced in
Russia - and people who talk about it, as a rule, are used to keeping
their promises - everyone understands very well that it [Eurasian
Union] is about transformed Soviet Union; to be more precise, it is
about political and military aspects of this collapsed empire. For
that reason, strong, stable and prosperous Ukraine is a vital necessity
for Georgia," Vashadze said.
He also reiterated Tbilisi's claims that Russia's planned large-scale
military exercises Kavkaz-2012 were timed deliberately to coincide
with Georgia's parliamentary elections, scheduled for October.
Vashadze recalled that Russia held in North Caucasus similar military
exercises just ahead of the August, 2008 war.
He said that Georgia "is an absolute necessity" for the Russian
leadership, which he described as "LLC Kremlin Inc.", because of
several reasons and among them he listed: Moscow's aim to cut off
alternative energy transit routes to Europe; control over the entire
South Caucasus; undermining Georgia's reforms, which "annoy" and
"irritate" Moscow; undermining Georgia's NATO integration.
"Reason behind this policy is that the Kremlin tries to restore
the Soviet Union. This is a declared political goal... Any
military-political complication in the region - Nagorno-Karabakh,
Iran - can serve as a pretext for [Russia's] military aggression
[against Georgia]," he said.
He also said, that military confrontation between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh "will bury sovereignty and
independence of all three South Caucasus states" and expressed hope
that OSCE Minsk Group would be able to defuse recent tensions in the
region. He, however, also said that "third party" was trying to derail
Minks Group's efforts and to keep tensions in the region.
Asked about upcoming parliamentary elections in Georgia and Bidzina
Ivanishvili-led opposition coalition Georgian Dream, Vashadze said
that elections in October would be "exemplary."
"If financier and businessman Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream is a
Georgian project, then everything will be alright. If the Georgian
Dream has roots in Moscow and if it is a post-election project, then
there will be complications. But in any case, elections will be held
in an exemplary way in Georgia," he said.
"These elections [both this year's parliamentary and next year's
presidential elections] should turn into a watershed; these elections
should strengthen Georgian political elite and should ultimately
demonstrate to the world that Georgia is a democratic state, not a
transitional one. If these elections are held as we want, excellent
prospects will open up for Georgia," Vashadze said.
From: Baghdasarian