"NATO will never agree to access Georgia"

By Vestnik Kavkaza

The member of the Civic Chamber of Russia, the political scientist Sergey Markov told Vestnik Kavkaza about his view on the history of Russian-Georgian relations in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

-          Do you know any Georgian presidents personally? What do you think about them?

-          I didn’t know Gamsakhurdia, but I met Shevardnadze. He was a smart and intelligent politician. His nickname “Silver Fox” was perfect for him. He was cunning and could deceive anyone. For example, he deceived those naïve militants Kitovani and Ioseliani. He was a citizen of the world, but maintained his Georgian identity. Dostoyevsky wrote: “We don’t like people for the evil which we do to them.” Shevardnadze doesn’t like Russia for the evil which he caused to her, I think. Probably he didn’t intend to do it, probably it was the general policy of the time in the country, but the evil was obvious.

As for Saakashvili, I had personal clashes with him. Saakashvili forbade me from entering Georgia according to an anti-European law which restricts the right to visit Georgia of all who have visited Abkhazia or South Ossetia. I have no stamp in my passport. The Europeans judged the decision.

Of course, Saakashvili fears and hates us; he is an enemy of Russia. But I must say some of his reforms were successful.

As a historian, I think Saakashvili recalls Mussolini. When Mussolini came to office, he managed to solve many of the problems which Italy had been facing. Mussolini also was a bright, hard-working, talented man. But after settling several problems he created much worse troubles for Italy with his nationalism. Saakashvili is just like him.

-          Georgia is a part of the Caucasus. Does Russia consider Georgia from this perspective?

-          Russia divided the Caucasus into two parts: the North and the South Caucasus. In the North Caucasus live our citizens, and we are responsible for them. In many things, this part of our country differs from the rest of Russia: in culture, religion, traditions, and so on. However, the North Caucasus is an integral part of Russia and the majority of the residents of the North Caucasus don’t think about independence from Russia. Russia today is the only guarantor of stability and development in the North Caucasus.

The South Caucasus is a different thing. These countries used to be parts of Russia, but decided to be independent. We are building various relations with them. The Caucasus is not an integral phenomenon for us.

As for threats, today Georgia doesn’t pose any threat to Russia. But the accession of Georgia to NATO would mean a mechanism for global thermonuclear war. This war could be started like the war of August 2008. The essence of the mechanism is simple: Georgia attacks Russia and its citizens, but presents the situation in such a way as if Russia attacked Georgia. Then NATO must protect Georgia by all means, according to its charter. That is why all serious member-states of NATO are against Georgia’s accession.