MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev voiced hope on Thursday that dialogue between Moscow and Tbilisi will be resumed after Salome Zurabishvili’s victory in Georgia’s presidential election.

"I do not expect any drastic changes on Russia policy. But given that Salome Zurabishvili is an experienced and pragmatic politician, I would like to hope that a room for dialogue won’t shrink at minimum, but I wish it expanded. Dialogue now is clearly in the interest of both countries, our people, businesses and the region in general," Kosachev told TASS.

The senator said the election outcome may be considered as moderately positive. "It won't be worse, definitely," he noted.

Russia has been keeping a watchful eye on the events in the neighboring country, "which is still very close, but unfortunately, unfriendly now." The presidential election is a very important event and "it appears that Georgia will have a female president for the first time," Kosachev noted.

Stability in Georgia, delay of Saakashvili’s return

The victory of Zurabishvili, a French-born former Georgian foreign minister, backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party, will mean stability for the country, the senator noted. Zurabishvili won a fierce struggle, where embattled ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili has been involved, he stressed.

Saakashvili had a personal interest as Zurabishvili had accused him "of bombing a Georgian village during the Russian-Georgian war and undermining the country’s territorial integrity," Kosachev pointed out. "In the end, she even appealed to the Hague tribunal with accusations. The presidency of such a tough opponent will apparently ruin Saakashvili’s long dream of a full-fledged return to Georgian politics, and therefore he is following his usual anti-democratic path, calling on people to protest and on the army to be disobedient," the senator said.

"However, the opponents from the ruling forces have also shown force. That’s why the feeling of a political split is still in the air. Given the well-known emotional character of Georgians, it is not ruled out that the standoff will continue in the streets," he said.

According to the Central Election Commission, with 99.7% of the vote counted, Salome Zurabishvili has a clear lead in the runoff presidential election with 59.56% of the vote. Her rival Grigol Vashadze from the opposition party United National Movement garnered 40.44% of the vote. This was Georgia’s last direct vote. After the new president’s six-term ends, the next heads of state will be elected by the 300-member College of Electors.