Georgia takes all steps to ease tensions in relations with Russia: President
By Jamila Babayeva
Georgia is taking all steps to ease tensions in relations with Russia, which has become a historical.
Georgia's president Giorgi Margvelashvili made the remarks in response to Russian foreign ministry Sergey Lavrov's statement issued on December 18.
Lavrov said Russia is not ready to abolish the visa regime with Georgia, but advocates the development of humanitarian ties.
"We are actively working on signing the document on visa-free regime with Europe. I think Georgia will be able to meet European standards in this area. In that case, if there is political will, it may also be acceptable for Russian standards, but we can clearly see that Russia is not ready for this," the president said.
Earlier Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili in response to Lavrov's statement said Georgia demonstrates the desire to normalize relations with Russia in both words and actions.
Moscow could restore visa-free regime with Georgia, the issue should be discussed at the expert level, Russia's president Vladimir Putin said at press-conference on December 19.
"I think it would be a very good step in the normalization of relations between the two countries, it would help people to communicate with each other, Georgian companies operate on the Russian market," Putin said.
He stated that his personal attitude towards the current Georgian government has changed.
Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have had no diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008. Tbilisi broke off relations with Moscow in August 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over two rebel regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- and later recognized the regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.