Moscow-Tbilisi: the dialogue continues

Author: Novosti-Azerbaijan

On 16-17 November in Turkey the Russian-Georgian forum under the "Istanbul process" was held. The forum was attended by leading experts, journalists and social scientists of Russia and Georgia: Alexei Vlasov, Alla Yazikova, Georgi Volski, Vladimir Papava, Irina Kobrinskaya, Andrei Ryabov, Mamuka Areshidze and others. Director General of the Center for Political Studies "North-South", editor-in-chief of VK Alexei Vlasov commented on the goals and outcomes of the Istanbul meeting in an interview to Novosti Azerbaijan.

- What is the "Istanbul process"?

- The organizational unit of this process is being implemented by the director of the International Center for Conflicts and Negotiation, Georgi Khutsishvili. The forum was initiated after the 2008 war, in the autumn of that year. Its exact name is as follows: "Istanbul process: expert dialogue between Russia and Georgia." To date, six meetings have been held, including five in Istanbul and one in the United States shortly before the presidential elections. The stated purpose of the dialogue, which is shared by all the participants of the meeting, is to increase contacts between Georgian and Russian experts at the non-governmental level, to make recommendations in terms of the restoration of relations in the economic, political and humanitarian spheres.

- What are the specifics of the November meeting?

- The victory of Ivanishvili and "Georgian Dream" opens certain windows of opportunity for the gradual normalization of relations. We were trying to figure out which specific matters can be discussed even now, before the politicians will be able to develop a suitable approach to the resumption of formal negotiations. The main topics of the meeting are the current situation in Georgia, new approaches to bilateral relations by Moscow and Tbilisi, the possible format of recovery of Russian-Georgian dialogue, the economic component of relations in the future, the role of external actors in the geopolitics of the South Caucasus.

- What is your assessment of the prospects for the normalization of the dialogue between the two countries?

- I delivered four factors or actions by the country's new leadership, which, in my opinion, can expand the space for mutual understanding: an official confession by Saakashvili and his regime of their guilt for the events of August 2008; rejection of the discussion of recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia; an official appeal from Tbilisi to the Kremlin for the restoration of diplomatic relations; rejection of the confrontational rhetoric of the Georgian media.

- How was this position received by the Georgian experts?

- These approaches are being discussed. We need to maximize the dynamics of communications at expert level, in order to bring our positions closer and understand the limits of the possible. However, Georgian politicians and experts have focused on the other side of the issue - the lack of time the current government in Georgia has. This factor must also be seriously considered.