Georgian tycoon expects NATO entry after poll victory

Georgian tycoon expects NATO entry after poll victory – Reuters – Margarita Antidze – October 9, 2012
click here to read original article: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/09/us-georgia-election-idUSBRE8980S220121009

Reuters covers predictions by Georgia’s next likely prime minister, Bidzina Ivanishvili, that Georgia will soon join NATO, rather than come under Russian influence.  Ivanishvili’s party won recent parliamentary elections.

“We are striving towards Europe and Georgia will definitely be able to become a member of NATO soon,” Ivanishvili said after talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Russia apparently wants to see Georgia divided, calling for regional divisions resulting from the Russo-Georgian War to be perpetuated:

 

Russia, which has no diplomatic relations with Georgia and regards Saakashvili as a belligerent hothead, has reacted positively to the outcome of the election in Georgia.

But Moscow, which dominated Georgia for two centuries until the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, made clear on Tuesday that it was not prepared to discuss the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which it has recognised as independent states.

… “We hope that the changes (in Georgia) will allow the Georgian leadership to move towards the normalization of ties with all of its neighbours, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow after talks with a South Ossetian delegation.

“We won’t hold talks with Georgia or anyone else about the fate of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as the fate of these republics was decided by their people, who supported their independence. And Russia defined its position by recognising their independence,” he said.

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