Georgian-Russian TV bridge disputes on Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Today, a video conference was held between Moscow and Tbilisi on the topic "Situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia after Round 9 of Geneva Consultations." The parties rejected opponent's arguments.

The Georgian party was represented by state minister of Georgia Temur Yakobashvili, the Russian party - by Alexei Vlasov, director general of the Information Analytical Centre for Studying Political Processes in Post-Soviet Space, and Felix Stanevskiy, former ambassador of Russia to Georgia.

Mr Yakobashvili has stated that the state strategy in relation to the zones of Abkhazian and South-Ossetian conflicts, drafted by the authorities of Georgia, has nothing to do with Geneva negotiations.

"We have deliberately excluded the safety and status issues out of the strategy, because they can be dealt with only after return of occupied territories to Georgia and return of refugees," the IA "News-Georgia" quotes Mr Yakobashvili as saying.

According to his version, the strategy "assumes reintegration of the territories and population of the conflict zones back to Georgia by exclusively peaceful way." Mr Yakobashvili has emphasized that the strategy is oriented towards mutual relations of people, not politicians.

As to restoration of relations with Russia, he said that "no restoration is possible until territories of Georgia are occupied."

In his turn, Felix Stanevskiy, head of the division on the Caucasus at the Institute of CIS Countries, has stated that Russia views Abkhazia and South Ossetia not as occupied territories but as independent states, as the IA "Osinform" reports.

"As to Geneva negotiations, I think it would be very desirable to hear from the Georgian party some resolute and clear words about the need to enter nonaggression agreement with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. This is the key safety issue," said Mr Stanevskiy and added that earlier Georgia tried to get Abkhazia and South Ossetia back by military force.

Let us remind you that on Thursday, January 29, in Geneva the ninth round of talks was over.

In the opinion of Gregory Karasin, secretary of state and deputy foreign minister of Russia, the Geneva debates "were difficult but dynamic." According to his story, the principal disagreements, revealed in the course of the talks, "did not allow reaching the document format acceptable for all the parties" on non-use of force between Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.