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Georgian president ready to mend ties with Russia
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Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said he was ready to mend ties with Russia strained under his predecessor by a brief war and by trade disputes, but stood by the ex-Soviet state’s pro-Western course at his inauguration yesterday.
Former President Mikhail Saakashvili led Georgia in a disastrous five-day war with Russia in 2008, which cemented Moscow’s control of two rebellious Georgian regions. His exit removes the main irritant in relations with Moscow.
The nation of 4.5 million is at the center of the Caucasus, a region in which Russia and the United States are battling for influence and which hosts a major pipeline pumping oil from the Caspian Sea to Europe.
Margvelashvili was elected last month to take over from Saakashvili, who spent a decade in power pursuing friendly relations with the West often at the expense of ties with Russia.
The former Soviet republic hopes eventually to sign an association agreement, mapping out a closer relationship with the European Union. A more distant goal is membership in the NATO defence alliance.
“Full membership in the free world is a long-term guarantee of Georgia’s national security and stable development,” Margvelashvili said in a speech.
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