Resumption of dialog with Georgia is possible given new geopolitical reality – Medvedev

Map of Georgia

MOSCOW. Nov 29 (Interfax) – Russia is ready to cooperate with the new Georgian authorities, if they take into account Russia’s decision on the recognition of Abkhazia’s and South Ossetia’s independence, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.

“This is not the easiest path, but Russia has always said that we are ready for dialog with the new Georgian authorities, but of course given the existing geopolitical reality and decisions on the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that Russia made,” Medvedev said in an interview with the Kommesant daily on Thursday.

Asked whether he is ready to meet Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, Medvedev noted that the Russian authorities closely watch signals that Georgia sends and pointed out that it is impossible to do business with the incumbent Georgian president.

“I once said that one person I am not ready to sit at the same table with is Mikheil Saakashvili. He started a war. He committed a crime. The crime in the eyes of Georgian people, in the eyes of other peoples of whose death he is guilty,” he said.

Ivanishvili belongs to another generation of politicians, Medvedev said. “Let’s look at his real actions. They send signals that it would be good to fine-tune contacts, so far not at the diplomatic level. I would like to recall that it was Georgia, not Russia, that ruptured diplomatic relations. We will closely watch such signals,” he said.

“I can see nothing bad in restoring humanitarian cooperation. Aircraft fly; there are, thanks God, contacts between people; we maintained cultural ties, and trade and economic relations may be restored as well,” Medvedev said.

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