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Russia to help Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia with reconciliation, if need be — Lavrov

"It is obvious that the current Georgian leadership is honest about the past," the Russian foreign minister noted

UNITED NATIONS, September 28. /TASS/. Russia will be ready to provide support in achieving peace between Georgia, on the one hand, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the other, provided the parties are interested, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference following his participation in the high-level week of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

"It is obvious that the current Georgian leadership is honest about the past. That's what they said: 'We want historical reconciliation.' In what form and way this reconciliation can materialize is up to the countries concerned - Abkhazia and South Ossetia - to decide. They are Georgia’s neighbors. Some contacts are inevitable there anyway. If there is interest on all sides in normalizing these relations, in ensuring non-aggression agreements, so that no one should ever have a wish to attack, if the parties are interested, we will be ready to help," Lavrov said in reply to a TASS question.

"That [former Georgian President Mikhail] Saakashvili started the war has long been known to everyone, except, maybe some of our Western colleagues and Georgian President Mrs. [Salome] Zourabichvili. Immediately after 2008, the European Union ordered a probe or investigation, which was conducted by the much-respected Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini, whose report on the results of this investigation stated clearly that it was Saakashvili who started all that. There is no place for surprise.".

Tags

Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov Georgia Abkhazia South Ossetia

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