Interfax: Georgia presidential candidate Burjanadze vows normal relations with Russia if she wins

MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) – Georgian presidential candidate from the Democratic Movement-United Georgia party and former parliamentary speaker Nino Burjanadze vows that, if she wins the elections on October 27, she will work to normalize relations with Russia and settle the existing problems.

“The unsettled relations with Russia pose a real threat to the country’s stability and normal development. My program says clearly and openly that the improvement of relations with Russia is among the main priorities for us,” Burjanadze said in an interview to the Voice of Russia radio.

At the same time, normalization of relations with Russia should not be detrimental to Georgia’s relations with other countries, Burjanadze said. “I do not think that we are facing the choice between cooperation with the West and improvement of relations with Russia. We will have normal, good and deep relations with the West. But we will certainly be moving in this direction so as to break the deadlock in Russian-Georgian relations and so that we could find the opportunity to deepen our cooperation on a mutually beneficial basis,” she said.

Burjanadze does not expect the problems in Russian-Georgian relations to be solved quickly but believes her experience in meeting and negotiating with Russian leader Vladimir Putin gives grounds to hope for a positive result.