Tehran, YJC. Russia is prepared to broaden relations with Georgia in various spheres but it will not waive the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy on Monday.
"The new [Georgian] government is pragmatic; it shows interest in economic relations, which have never stopped, in energy cooperation, in some other areas, in humanitarian matters and air traffic, which already exists. We are ready to develop relations in these areas but we will not betray our brothers in South Ossetia and Abkhazia,” he said.
"That will never happen,” the Russian minister said.
"In fact, we have never grown cold towards the people of Georgia; this is a close neighbor and a fraternal people, and our cultural and humanitarian attraction is huge,” Lavrov said.
"We had never meant to keep off or isolate the Georgian people, but the Saakashvili regime decided to break up diplomatic relations,” the minister said.
A South Ossetian student of the Diplomatic Academy asked Lavrov to confirm that nothing endangered South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "This is an odd question,” Lavrov said.
Source: Interfax