Question. Joint NATO-Georgia conference is being held in Tbilisi. The main subject of the conference is joint plans of Georgia with North-Atlantic Alliance. In your opinion what such a close collaboration of NATO and Georgia can result in?
Answer. The authorities of Georgia chose the priority of joining NATO in their foreign policy long ago. It finds understanding and cautious support among many in the West. Meanwhile the governing body of NATO first of all pursues its object – to strengthen at most its positions on the territories of the number of countries of the former USSR.
We are surely concerned about this partnering for the authorities of Georgia use the factor of NATO to pressurize the situation at the border with South Ossetia. The recent opening of the ‘NATO corner’ in Ergneti School comes to mind; and the authorities of Georgia presented it as a manifest of their pro-NATO mood near our borders.