Georgia's Ivanishvili keen to mend ties with Russia
By Nazrin Gadimova
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili has said a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is "not a very distant, but not a very close perspective" and there are no preconditions for such a meeting yet, despite his willingness.
"More positive and refined bilateral relations are needed for the meeting to take place. Moreover, it takes time, but we fully express our willingness and desire for this," Ivanishvili said in an interview with the Moscow office of Voice of America (VOA) on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the brief war fought by Russia and Georgia.
He also said that the new Georgian government has achieved a lot in the process of normalization of relations with Russia and he hopes that the visa regime with Russia will be simplified or even cancelled in the near future.
"We have managed to establish trade relations with Russia over a short period of time and this process can be developed. Moreover, I believe this may be followed by resumption of regular flights, simplification of the visa regime with Russia or even its abolition," Ivanishvili said.
Ivanishvili mentioned "nostalgia" between the two neighboring peoples as the reason for his belief that diplomatic relations between the two countries would be restored.
"There is a nostalgia sentiment in Russia for Georgia and there is a nostalgia sentiment in Georgia for the Russian people as well," said the prime minister, reflecting public opinion polls that track a reduction of suspicion between the people of the two countries.
Then Ivanishvili addressed VOA's Russian listeners directly in Russian.
"Relations will be restored, and we must do it," he said. "I will leverage all efforts so that the relations with our big neighbor would be restored. I think we will be a success," he said.
Ivanishvili has succeeded in persuading Russia to lift its ban on imports of Georgian wine and bottled water during his 10-month-long tenure as head of the Georgian government.
Georgia and Russia, its giant northern neighbor, have maintained no diplomatic relations since the 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 breakaway regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.