Georgian Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze said yesterday that Georgia may skip the Sochi Olympic Games as a response to accreditation of Abkhaz and South Ossetian journalists in Russia.
Nana Devdariani, head of the Center for Global Studies, noted that Panjikidze was answering a journalist’s question, when making such statement. The expert accentuated on the fact that nothing about Panjikidze’s answer had been published in Georgian mass media. Devdariani said that issues like the boycott was a subject of politicians and members of parliament. She added that meetings of Karasin and Abashidze were the only highest-level efforts for Russian-Georgian rapprochement carried out by the Georgian Dream coalition in the past 11 months. The Geneva process was dragged, she said.
Vyacheslav Kovalenko, Director of Regional Programs of the Institute for Caspian Cooperation and Russian Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Georgia and Armenia (2009-2013), expressed surprise over Panjikidze’s declaration, because it was contradicting earlier announcement about Georgia’s taking part in the Olympic Games. Expression of readiness to join the Games followed by threats to boycott them was no a step towards normalization of relations with Russia, according to Kovalenko.
Petre Mamradze, head of the Institute for Strategic Management, noted that it was a moment Georgia could not make concessions. He reminded that Russian citizens in Abkhazia and South Ossetia were dominant. It was a problem of sovereignty for Georgia.
Georgian State Minister for Integration in European and Euro-Atlantic Structures Aleksi Petriashvili said today that Georgia was not planning to boycott the Sochi Olympic Games of 2014, Trend reports.
