Zatulin: Georgia should be excluded from the CIS long ago

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“NATO is not going to take the burden of somebody else’s problems and, moreover, to quarrel with Russia,” Russian State Duma deputy Konstantin Zatulin stated at a press conference in Tskhinvali international press center to a REGNUM correspondent’s question about Georgia’s possible joining NATO and the way it would affect South Ossetia.

According to Zatulin, current staff changes at the US administration, unsuccessful campaign in Iraq demonstrate that the country’s policy switches to isolationism. “It is a very unpleasant news for Saakashvili,” Zatulin stressed. Speaking on South Ossetia’s future, the MP said that Russian peacekeepers have been deployed in the region and will remain there al long as their presence is needed. On the statements of Georgian politicians on Georgia’s leaving the CIS, Zatulin commented: “The CIS has long turned from a commonwealth into a hostility alliance for Georgia; that is why I personally believe that Georgia should have been excluded from the CIS long ago.”

Georgian parliament recently supported proposal of parliamentary majority’s leader Maya Nadiradze and speaker Nino Burjanadze to postpone debates on the issue of Georgia’s exiting the CIS. “It is not yet time to take decisions on such issues. The issue should be discussed when the right moment comes,” Burjanadze said. According to her, it is yet impossible to specify the date when the discussion on Georgia’s leaving the CIS would be resumed at the parliament. “The situation changes so fast that it is difficult to set a date of taking decision on the issue; however, I should say that we will not endlessly delay it,” the Georgian parliament speaker said.