The dialogue between the two countries continues, the senator said.
Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin commented on the state of Russian-Georgian relations.
“Systematic work is underway, and there is some progress. Proposals from any political forces in Georgia aimed at normalising relations are important and will be considered,” the parliamentarian said.
The senator noted that the bilateral dialogue has been ongoing since 2012, including through the Karasin-Abashidze dialogue channel. “Despite all the difficulties we have been experiencing with Georgia since Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations in 2008, we continue our painstaking work on behalf of the two countries’ leaders.”
According to Karasin, the parties regularly discuss various aspects of bilateral relations including trade, economic, transport, and humanitarian matters. “Georgia and Russia are close neighbours, and always have many topics that need to be discussed. Our format is working even despite the pandemic. Unfortunately, we have not met face-to-face for more than a year now, but we have been making good use of videoconferencing and getting in touch quite often to discuss things that could not be postponed such as the Kazbegi-Verkhny Lars border checkpoint operation as well as contacts between people or any hitches that might arise in our trade and economic relations.”
It is important that contacts continue and that their results are approved in both Moscow and Tbilisi, Grigory Karasin believes. “We will step up our efforts to keep up the progress towards normalising our relations.“
Earlier, one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, Irma Inashvili, posted an open letter on Facebook in which the party asked the President of Russia for assistance in resuming cooperation, including in organising joint media, cultural and social projects.
The Kremlin press service noted that “the Russian-Georgian dialogue continues,” also as part of the international Geneva Discussions on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus, as well as on a bilateral basis through the informal Karasin-Abashidze dialogue channel. “This has brought some results in the field of trade and humanitarian cooperation.”