PACE MP: “Georgia needs to maintain respectful attitude towards Russia”

Read it in Russian

PACE Russia rapporteurs Luc Van den Brande (Belgium) and Theodoros Pangalos (Greece) call for settling problems in Russia-Georgia relations by the way of talks instead of court. The PACE members made the statement at a news conference at the Russian State Duma today.

“Of course, Georgia has a right to do it its way, and Russia must accept it. But at the same time, Georgia needs to maintain respectful attitude towards Russia in order to be a good neighbor. It makes sense to restore postal and air links. Probably, nations are wiser than politicians,” Brande said commenting on Georgian Justice Ministry’s appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against Russia regarding violation of human rights during deportation of about 5,000 Georgian citizens from Russia last autumn.

According to the head of the State Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev, it was a great mistake that Georgia lodged an inter-state application. “I would not see it a problem if Georgian or Russian citizens appealed regarding human rights violation,” he added. According to him, Georgia’s complaint against Russia is an attempt to politicize the problem, which will do no good to improvement of the relations.

Pangalos, in his turn, called Georgia and Russia for talks. “Hopefully, they will find an opportunity to discuss the gist of the problem and settle it, probably, even without the court,” the European MP said.