Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili considers talk about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as "premature". But Ivanishvili said that in general he "liked" the Izvestia newspaper's report about Moscow's preparations for his visit.

"But I would like to stress that no backstage games will be played. We will not allow it ourselves. We inform the public about everything we know. The report made me smile. If Russia has such an expectation, and if there are radical changes in the process, it would be very good," Ivanishvili said.

The two neighbors have maintained no diplomatic relations since a brief war in 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over the two rebel regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- and later recognized the breakaway regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008 and broke off relations with Moscow.

According to Ivanishvili, the Moscow journalists write their stories based on specific information, although "today there is no reason" to suppose that such a meeting can be held in the near future.

"My basic approach is that we definitely need to normalize relations with Russia. We will do everything for it, though it greatly annoys President Mikheil Saakashvili," Ivanishvili said.

He believes that the Russian side wants to change the existing relations with Georgia.

"Today`s relations between our countries are unacceptable and Russia also senses that the current level of relations is not useful," Ivanishvili said.

Speaking about the planned visit of the state ensemble Erisioni to Russia, he noted that the establishment of relations between the two countries should begin with cooperation in the fields of culture and sports.

"How can anyone be against that? Establishing relationships should start in the cultural sphere. The same should be done by sports, and participation in the Sochi Olympics [in 2014] should get that done too. How could you turn that down?" Ivanishvili said, emphasizing that the Georgian team will definitely participate in the Olympic Games.