Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza
The Ambassador Hotel in Tbilisi is hosting the first meeting of leading Russian experts and scientists. For the first time since the August war 2008 Russian experts and scientists have come to Georgia to discuss Russian-Georgian relations and the situation in South Caucasus.
After organizators’ greetings and video speeches by Alexey Vlasov, Executive Director of the North-South Center for Political Analysis, and Yaroslav Skvortsov, Dean of the International Journalism Faculty of MGIMO, Nikolai Silayev, director of the political section of the Expert Journal, took the floor.
“I am happy that this time the journalist school is being held in Georgia, and we can communicate to Georgian journalists. It is very important. Of course the political context is difficult. There are well-known disputes between Russia and Georgia, but this situation establishes special conditions and requirements for journalists,” Silayev said. According to him, “journalists will hardly settle intergovernmental disputes, but they can contribute to a deeper understanding of each other by both societies.”
Sergey Mikheyev, Director of the Center for Political Conjuncture, called the meeting unprecedented: “It has never been before. We cannot separate, we are doomed for a dialogue and have to preserve our common identity connected with our faith, especially when the processes of westernization and globalization are antireligious,” Mikheyev stated. Commenting on a small protest of local non-governmental organizations in front of the hotel, he said that “it is absurd to think that all Georgians who come to Russia are “legal thieves” and all Russians who visit Georgia are agents of the FSS.”
Fedor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs Journal, read a lecture about the reasons Russian foreign affairs were interesting to the media. He discussed global tendencies, including developments on the post-Soviet and the Middle Eastern space, retrospectives of the events since the collapse of the USSR, development of new post-Soviet identities, formation of the Russian civil nation and the Eurasian Union.
“Tutors” of the school answered numerous questions from journalists. The dialogue shifted to a sharp, but productive and friendly discussion. It confirmed the usefulness of such communication for understanding confrontations and developing a mutually beneficial formula of working together.
