Georgia Wants Own 'Normandy Format' Talks To Speak With Russia - President

Current Georgian-Russian contacts are technical in nature and amount to nothing, which is why Tbilisi wants to reinforce its negotiating position and create a multilateral platform for talks with Moscow, similar to the Normandy format on Ukraine, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said in an interview with the 1TV channel on Wednesday

TBILISI (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th December, 2019) Current Georgian-Russian contacts are technical in nature and amount to nothing, which is why Tbilisi wants to reinforce its negotiating position and create a multilateral platform for talks with Moscow, similar to the Normandy format on Ukraine, Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili said in an interview with the 1TV channel on Wednesday.

The Normandy Four format was established in 2014 to mediate the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The talks bring together the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Ukraine.

"It would be good to have a Normandy-type format [of negotiations with Russia], where Georgia will be represented together with partners, since we do not have the power to negotiate alone ... we need that support. Ukraine, for example, is a part of this format and does not hold direct negotiations. Maybe, the time will come when a direct relationship [with Russia] will become necessary," Zourabichvili told the Georgian television channel.

According to the president, dialogue and negotiations do not mean that Georgia will make concessions. She reiterated the importance of maintaining the existing contacts with Russia, such as talks in Geneva and Prague, albeit saying that they were technical in nature and actually fruitless.

"We have been stuck in these technical formats; they continue, but nothing changes. Initially, I demanded that work be launched to revive the political dimension of the Geneva format, because Geneva began as political level talks and then descended to a technical level," Zourabichvili said.

The president stated she knew of only two ways to solve problems war and diplomacy. Georgia, however, was going "the third way" and asking its friends to use their diplomacy to help the country, according to Zourabichvili.

Georgia severed diplomatic ties with Russia in 2008 after the latter recognized the sovereignty of the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.