Georgia admitted that it had lost its chance by becoming dependent on the United States
The Georgian leadership should not have provoked Russia by making an unconditional bet on an alliance with NATO.
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This opinion was expressed in an interview with Nezavisimaya Gazeta by the former speaker of the Georgian parliament, leader of the United Georgia movement, Nino Burjanadze, according to whom, the recent visit of the US Vice President to Georgia makes it difficult to perceive positively the fact that his visit was timed to coincide with NATO exercises, “which are carried out demonstratively and provocatively on the territory of Georgia.”
Burjanadze calls the statement about Washington’s support for the country’s territorial integrity important, but at the same time says that the illusions that many in Georgia experience that the United States will supposedly solve this problem “harm Georgian interests.”
She believes that the Georgian leadership should have refrained from such provocative actions as NATO exercises, which are a provocation for Russia and from which there will certainly be a response.
“I am, of course, very upset by the news that Putin is going to Sukhumi. Of course, for me personally this is painful, and I would like us to have such a relationship that Putin would come to a single, integral Georgia, to Tbilisi, and then to Sukhumi, and Tskhinvali, to any point, but not to Sukhumi or Tskhinvali , which are separated from Georgia. The Georgian leadership had historical chances to prevent such moments and improve Georgian-Russian relations. However, today's leadership, afraid of angering their patrons in the United States, missed this chance. I remember Putin’s statement very well, and he repeated three times that he was ready to meet with the new leadership of Georgia, ready to discuss and look for ways out of the difficult situation in which Russian-Georgian relations found themselves. The Georgian leadership heard this statement, but, fearing to appear pro-Russian in the eyes of the West, ignored it,” Burjanadze noted.
She insists that negotiations are necessary, before which the parties should not impose conditions on each other.
“Yes, there are certain Russian circles in which they constantly say that Georgia must come to terms with reality. But what is important for me is the statement that Putin made when he answered a similar question that if Georgians and Abkhazians, Georgians and Ossetians agree on what state they should live in, in what legal environment, then Russia will not interfere and will not object to this. That is, in diplomatic language this means: if Georgians and Abkhazians, Georgians and Ossetians agree, then this will be in Russia’s interests. It's not an easy path. And I have no illusions that this can be achieved with one or two meetings. But it was necessary to start, the Georgian leadership had to gradually take steps towards restoring trust.
It was necessary to talk with the Abkhazians and Ossetians, investigate the circumstances of August 2008 and punish Saakashvili for destroying the bridges that had already been restored between the Georgian and Ossetian peoples. In this case, I believe that a completely different, broader path would open up for resolving the Abkhaz and Ossetian issues. And here it was necessary to involve Russia. She needs to see that NATO tanks and missiles will not threaten her at the borders. Then it will be possible to build trusting relationships. However, this was not done on the Georgian side. The current demands for Russia to revoke recognition of independence or the withdrawal of troops from Georgian territory as a precondition for negotiations are a road to nowhere,” the Georgian politician is convinced.
At the same time, she laments that time is not working in the interests of Georgia, since a new generation is growing in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which does not know anything good about relations with Georgians, unlike the older generation, which remembers both the bad, but, of course, the good .
“In general, the situation is not changing in the best way to restore those positive ties that are very important for resolving these conflicts. I think that Georgia, through its wrong actions, is moving further and further away from solving these problems. Russia is going deeper and deeper in its relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is becoming more difficult to find a way out of this impasse. I won’t say that we give up, but I get upset when I see how much time we waste and how difficult it is to solve problems. However, I am sure that such a chance still exists. But, unfortunately, I do not see the readiness of the Georgian leadership to use it. It is too tied to the interests of certain American circles,” Burjanadze concludes.
Georgia admits it lost its chance by becoming dependent on the US.