Russia is worried by the Georgian opposition's calls to prevent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov from participating in the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Georgia in May, and will study all the factors before making a decision on the level of participation, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said in an interview with Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th February, 2020) Russia is worried by the Georgian opposition's calls to prevent Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov from participating in the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe in Georgia in May, and will study all the factors before making a decision on the level of participation, Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has said in an interview with Sputnik.
While Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has said that her country is ready to receive the Russian delegation at the session of the Council of Europe's decision-making body, the Georgian opposition has called for preventing Lavrov's possible participation in the meeting, which Tbilisi will host in mid-May.
"Of course, we are worried over such provocative statements, but we are more guided by the official position of Tbilisi. We assume that all the Council of Europe member states should fulfill their international obligations, and we hope that the Georgian authorities will do this ... As for the level of Russia's participation in the meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Moscow will make a decision taking into consideration all the contributing factors," Rudenko said.
Russia's deputy foreign minister also said that Russia always welcomes communication with Georgia, commenting on Zourabichvili's recent suggestion for the countries to have dialogue in a format similar to the Normandy Four format. Rudenko added that the Georgian president had repeatedly come up with proposals to have a new bilateral or multilateral format for talks with Russia.
"We have already commented on this. We still assume that the regional security is discussed at the international Geneva Discussions on Security and Stability in Transcaucasia. This negotiating format has proven to be in demand, and I am sure its potential has not yet been uncovered," Rudenko said.
The Geneva talks is not the only platform for the "always welcomed" Russian-Georgian dialogue, Rudenko added, pointing, in particular, to the talks of Russian upper house lawmaker Grigory Karasin and Georgian Prime Minister's Special Representative for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze.
"Anyway, it is not the number [of platform] that matters, but the political will to solve the existing problems and seek mutually acceptable decisions," Rudenko said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already said that the Normandy Four format is unique, since it has been established for mediating the conflict in eastern Ukraine, while the very "structure" of problems in the Russian-Georgian relations is completely different.
