Georgia continues to discuss the interview which Dmitry Medvedev gave, among other channels, to the First Information Channel of the Caucasus. Tbilisi perceived the statement of the Russian president (according to which accession of Russia to the WTO could become, if not a turning point in Georgian-Russian relations, then at least a point of contact) as a landmark in the relationships of the two countries. Georgia remains, in fact, the only obstacle to Russia in joining World Trade Organization.
Many Georgian analysts have regarded the words of Medvedev as a proposal to consider the return of Georgian products (wine, mineral water, etc.) to the Russian market in exchange for elimination of artificial barriers to Russia's accession to the global trading club. However, Tbilisi is not sure that the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, would not find any dangerous minerals in Borjomi the day after Russia joins the World Trade Organization. So the position of the Georgian authorities in this regard is unwavering. According to VK sources, at talks in September in Switzerland the Georgian government will once again insist on the "legalization" of customs checkpoints on the Abkhazian and South Ossetian sections of the border, and therefore - on control over the transportation of goods. In so doing, Tbilisi rejects a compromise proposal made by Switzerland on "transparent traffic", meaning providing Tbilisi with information about the transportation of goods.
The Russian leadership is hoping to change Georgia's position on this issue in vain: “In recent years many Russian colleagues have begun to push the idea of ‘transparency’ of the checkpoints on the Abkhazian and South Ossetian sections of the border," a source in the government of Georgia told VK, "but this is a substitution of notions, as we have never talked about the ‘transparency’ of the checkpoints, but about their ‘legalization,’ which is not the same thing.”
At the same time, VK’s source added that the model for solving the problem is “configuration of control over freight traffic on the Transdniestrian section of the border, which was established on the basis of a compromise between Moldova, Ukraine and the EU.” For Russia, in this case, this model is unacceptable, because, unlike Transdniestria, it has already recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for VK
