Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili left for Strasbourg on Sunday to take part at the spring session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

According to the Prime Minister's office, Ivanishvili will make a speech at the session and answer MPs' questions on Tuesday.

The Georgian delegation also includes lawmakers and members of the Georgian government. During the visit, which will last until April 24, Ivanishvili is due to hold several bilateral meetings.

Tina Khidasheli of the Georgian delegation to PACE told Georgian journalists in Strasbourg on Monday that the statements circulated over holding a full-scale meeting between the Georgian and Russian delegations do not correspond to reality.

We recall that a decision to hold a full-scale meeting was made by the two countries at a meeting of the heads of delegations which took place at the January session of PACE.

"The Russian delegation to PACE intends to raise a question before Ivanishvili over the Georgian government's change of foreign policy toward Russia," the head of the foreign affairs committee at Russia's State Duma (lower house of parliament), Alexei Pushkov, told reporters on Monday.

According to Pushkov, the questions addressed will be related to what extent Ivanishvili intends to change the Georgian foreign policy, in particular, toward Russia, as all official statements of the Georgian government have so far been in line with the foreign policy course conducted by President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have maintained 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 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.

The spring session`s agenda includes a debate about post-monitoring dialogue with Turkey, the violence against religious communities, the fight against child sex-tourism and the education for young Europeans.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks will deliver a report on the situation with human rights in the world in 2012.

The addresses of German President Joachim Gauck and Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta are also scheduled during the spring session. The session of PACE will continue until April 27.