According to U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Norland “Abkhazians and Ossetians were treated by Georgians in the same way as Russians had treated Georgians and Georgia will have to apologize for the mistakes of the past”.

Richard Norland made the above-mentioned statement at the meeting with students at Tbilisi State University.

“As for the possibilities to return the occupied territories, there is no quick resolution of this issue. I do not think that Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region see their future exclusively to the North, they have a lot of possibilities, including economic to the South. We are talking about a new “Silk Road”, a transit corridor, I think people living in Sukhumi and Gudauta will have desire to be involved in this process eventually. If you ask me about my personal opinion I can tell you that when I was in Georgia 20 years ago I saw that Abkhazians and Ossetians were treated by Georgians in the same way as Russians had treated Georgians and Georgia will have to apologize for the mistakes of the past. Abkhazians and Ossetians had a reason to feel themselves as minorities in Georgia. In the process when Georgia seeks to make itself more attractive economically and politically for these regions, Georgia has to reevaluate, acknowledge its mistakes and apologize. Another side of the equation is that you have to manage relationships with Russia more successfully, because Russia will undoubtedly try to use your weaknesses. But as we see the experience of those countries that are located near Russia, it is possible to manage good relationships with Russia successfully in order to avoid conflicts,” Richard Norland said.