Presidents of Russia and Georgia, Vladimir Putin and Georgy Margvelashvili, seek a meeting, Sergey Markedonov, Associate Professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University, told ArmInfo.
Last week, Russian President's Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Imedi that Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with Georgy Margvelashvili if the latter expresses readiness to meet with him. In response, the Georgian president expressed readiness to meet subject to discussing the issues related to Russia and Georgia. "We offer Russia good-neighbored and friendly relations subject to restoration of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of our country," Margvelashvili said.
The expert believes that besides the discrepancies over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Tbilisi and Moscow extremely need to discuss the factors linking them. First and foremost, they need to discuss the issues related Armenia that is accessing the Eurasian Economic Union on 1 Jan 2015. The issue is important, Markedonov says, as Georgia transits the two-third of the exports and imports of Armenia that has no border with Russia. Meanwhile, Tbilisi has signed the AA and DCFTA with the European Union.
"There is need to discuss also the interest of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant radicals to the Caucasus, given that ISIL has come close to Turkey's border," Markedonov said. Markedonov is sure that the Georgian president's response to the Kremlin's invitation can be interpreted in two ways. First, Margvelashvili cast doubt on the expediency of the meeting. Second, he understands the need to discuss the conflicts in the bilateral relations and shows that Tbilisi avoids linking different problems. Markedonov believes that after the August 8, 2008 war, Georgia's elite has realized that open confrontation with Russia impedes Georgia's European integration.