Lavrov: Russia is ready to help Georgia in reconciliation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Russia is ready to support Georgia in normalizing relations with South Ossetia and Abkhazia. According to Kommersant, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this at a press conference dedicated to the High Level Week of the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly.

The head of Russian diplomacy noted that Moscow is ready to help if all parties are interested in reconciliation and “ensuring non-aggression agreements”.

“It is obvious that the current leadership of Georgia honestly evaluates the past. They said they ‘want historical reconciliation’. The countries—both Abkhazia and South Ossetia—should decide what form and format this reconciliation can take,” Lavrov said.

Speaking at the 79th session of the U.N. General Assembly, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze appealed to the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, urging them to live in “one Georgian state”. According to him, Georgia should “restore all the destroyed bridges”. In early September, the founder of the Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, announced that if her party wins the elections, Tbilisi will find the strength to apologize to the Ossetians for the 2008 military conflict.