Tbilisi sees no chance for meeting between Georgian, Russian presidents
TBILISI. March 19 (Interfax) - A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili is impossible now that Russia and South Ossetia have signed a treaty on allied relations and integration, says Georgian Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili.
"I don't know what Georgian diplomats speaking in favor of such a meeting the Russian presidential press secretary talked about. Considering that Moscow yesterday signed a treaty on allied relations with Tskhinvali, effectively annexing Georgian territory, which it had earlier occupied, I can't imagine how any new formats for a dialogue could be created in this situation," Beruchashvili told journalists on Thursday.
At the same time, Georgia will seek to use the existing formats of dialogue with Russia more efficiently, she said.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that Russian and Georgian diplomats did not rule out the possibility of a meeting between Putin and Margvelashvili and that Moscow was interested in normalizing relations with Tbilisi.