Lavrov: Moscow ready to help normalize relations between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced that Moscow is prepared to assist in normalizing relations between Georgia, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia, provided that the countries involved express interest.

He noted that this could include facilitating agreements on non-aggression pacts.

“The current Georgian government is evaluating the past fairly. They have said: ‘We want historical reconciliation.’ What form that reconciliation takes is for the countries themselves—Abkhazia and South Ossetia—to decide. They are Georgia’s neighbors, and some level of contact is inevitable. We are ready to help if the parties show interest,” Lavrov stated.

Lavrov’s statement came in response to the latest statements of the ruling party founder and Honorary Chair, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who said that „achieving national unity is only possible through reconciliation and mutual forgiveness.”

He also voiced several times that the former government of Georgia is to be blamed for the 2008 Russia-Georgia war, adding Georgians „should find strength to apologize to the Ossetian people.”