Russia will send its Ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, back to Tbilisi, Russian President Vladimir Putin said while meeting with Kovalenko and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on January 18.
Russia recalled its Ambassador from Tbilisi in late September 2006 after Georgia arrested four Russian military officers for alleged spying. The four officers were released to Russia on October 2.
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a phone conversation on January 18 that Tbilisi welcomes Moscow’s decision to send its Ambassador back to Georgia.
“Unfortunately, in recent years Russia and Georgia have come across already well-known problems. At the same time, last November we agreed with the President of Georgia [Mikheil Saakashvili] that we shall take steps towards the normalization of bilateral relations. The first such important step was taken last December when we signed an agreement on supplies of Russian gas to Georgia in accordance with market principles,” Putin said.
President Saakashvili met with his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of the CIS summit in Minsk on November 28. Saakashvili said after the talks that he had “a useful conversation” with Putin.
The Russian President also said while meeting with Lavrov and Kovalenko that “much is still to be done” to improve Russian-Georgian relations, adding that “tense work is ahead.”
“We will further undertake the relevant steps to ensure that all the problems are settled in the fairest manner,” the Russian leader said.
He also underlined Russia’s “increasing role” in the resolution of conflicts in post-Soviet space. Putin said that the trend should become “one of the major directions of Russian diplomacy.”
Putin told Ambassador Kovalenko that he is going back to the country with which Russia “has had not only special relations, but neighborly and friendly relations for centuries.”
“Moreover, for many centuries our countries shared a unique destiny,” Putin said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov informed his Georgian counterpart Gela Bezhuashvili about Moscow’s decision in a phone conversation on January 18.
“The two ministers also discussed important issues of bilateral relations and ways of resolving problematic issues. Both sides have underlined the necessity to improve bilateral relations and to enhance cooperation for this purpose,” the Georgian Foreign Ministry said in an information note.
“We are ready for fruitful cooperation with the Russian Ambassador,” Gela Bezhuashvili said in an interview with the Russian news agency Interfax.
“We have been stressing that the decision to recall the Russian Ambassador from Georgia was an unjustified and inappropriate measure,” he added.
Georgian media sources already speculate that the move will most likely be followed by the restoration of transport links between the two countries.
After recalling its Ambassador, Russia also cut air, sea, land and railway links, and postal communication with Georgia on October 3, 2006 – one day after Georgia released the four Russian military officers accused by Tbilisi of espionage.