Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

Former Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili believes establishment of the relations with Russia in parallel with accession to the EU is possible.

Georgia needs to establish relations with Russia on a positive basis and the country's government is taking the 'right steps' in this direction, Ivanishvili said at a press conference in Tbilisi on February 4.

"One of the steps in establishing the relations is the participation at the Sochi Olympics and our team must participate. I welcome the authorities' activities," he said.

The Georgian delegation will leave for Sochi on February 4 on a direct flight. Direct flights from Tbilisi in the direction of Sochi will start from February 4.

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 two rebel regions -South Ossetia and Abkhazia- and later recognized the regions. Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.

Also, Ivanishvili presented his NGO "Citizen", which will define the requirements of the civil sector to the government.

"My dream always was to be an independent citizen of my own nation. I came to the politics and left it due to this. Today I intend to control the authorities out of the civil sector and call the whole civil sector for this," he said.

He believes that civic responsibility is very important and NGO "Citizen" will ensure a high control over the government's activity by the society.

Ivanishvili was Prime Minister of Georgia from 25 October 2012 to 20 November 2013. He founded and led the Georgian Dream coalition, which won the 2012 parliamentary election. He announced his withdrawal from politics on November 2013 saying that he will remain an active member of society.