Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The topic of a meeting between the president or the prime minister of Georgia and their colleagues from Russia stays on front pages of Georgian newspapers. The question ‘should they meet or not?’ has become the main question of the political agenda in the country.
It should be admitted that the Russian side sets the pace. It has many times hinted that it would be beneficial for Georgia to initiate a meeting at the top level. In this context (“it would be beneficial for Georgia”), the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia, Grigory Karasin, and the Press Secretary of President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, have voiced the idea of a summit several times. Moreover, Vladimir Putin didn’t rule out the possibility of a meeting with President Margvelashvili at a press conference during the Olympics in Sochi, but he made it clear that the initiative should come from Tbilisi.
Thus, Moscow at least transparently hints that there are no obstacles from its side. The Russian authorities don’t consider the current president of Georgia a non-handshakable person who started the bloody war against South Ossetia, unlike Mikhail Saakashvili. Moreover, Moscow doesn’t demand a recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states from Georgia as a precondition for the meeting.
Where and how the meeting may take place is a technical issue, even though it is politically important. According to Vestnik Kavkaza’s information, Moscow is not strictly against holding the summit at some international event, for example, a session of the UN General Assembly, i.e. it doesn’t insist that the Georgian authorities should come to Sochi or Moscow.
The problem is that there is no talk about such details. As a precondition, the Georgian side demands a required discussion of the problem of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the former Georgian autonomies which are recognized by Russia as independent states. “We don’t need a meeting for handshaking,” the Foreign Ministry of Georgia Tamara Beruchashvili has recently stated. She is an uncompromising politician concerning the territorial integrity of the country and its orientation to the West. “Such a meeting should be prepared thoroughly,” the special envoy of the Premier of Georgia for settlement of relations with Russia, the former ambassador to Russia, Zurab Abashidze told Vestnik Kavkaza.
It seems Tbilisi not only insists on a discussion of the problem of Abkhazia and South Ossetia (even though Moscow recognized their independence in 2008), but demands much more: specific results, at least a joint statement which could at least not rule out a possible resolution of the conflicts on the basis of a united and common state. Such projects were discussed in the 1990s, but the five-day war ruined them.
The Georgian political elite and political culture which have been formed during the last 25 years do not find top meetings with Russia an inherent value. At the same time, a handshake between the two presidents, which was scornfully mentioned by the head of the Foreign Ministry, could send a very important message, even if no results on the most difficult issues of the bilateral agenda are reached. Moreover, we are speaking about small Georgia and big Russia. Even the fact of the meeting could be a beneficial signal for various towers of the Kremlin, i.e. national institutes of the second and third levels, on a settlement of certain issues in the trade-economic and humanitarian spheres.
For example, the Prague meetings between Zurab Abashidze and Grigory Karasin led to a breakthrough in several aspects of Russian-Georgian relations. For example, Georgian agricultural products, Borjomi, returned to the Russian market, and Moscow freed several Georgian citizens who were sentenced to Russian prisons for espionage.
However, Tbilisi’s position on the top-level meeting is intransigent. Moreover, the two main reasons have an internal political character. Firstly, an ineffective meeting (if only a resolution on Abkhazia and South Ossetia is considered to be a result) at the top level could heavily damage the authorities’ image, considering the radical attitudes in society and inevitable criticism by the opposition. Supporters of Mikheil Saakashvili look forward to a reason for accusing the ruling Georgian Dream coalition of “capitulationism and betraying the country’s interests” or even of “an indirect recognition of the annexing Georgian territories” due to the fact of a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Secondly, the President and Premier of Georgia still cannot divide their duties. The head of the government has many times forbidden the President from participating in international summits. Last year Margvelashvili couldn’t go to Brussels to sign the association agreement with the EU, as the head of the government decided that he should have done this himself.
Summing up the facts, a meeting between the head of Russia and Georgia is possible only if a) preservation of the status quo in relations with Russia will be more dangerous for the Georgian political elite than any changes in it; b) the President and Premier stop considering the issue through the internal political aspect of their duties and the real influences on the political processes in the country.
Today there are no signs of either of these options. It means a Russian-Georgian meeting at the top level is impossible. However, it is notable that the ball is on the Georgian side, unlike in the times of Mikheil Saakashvili.
