Saakashvili: Georgia has no claims for Sochi, but let others have no claims for Abkhazia

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Georgia does not plan to practice neutrality in its foreign policy and must increase its military capacity, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said speaking to graduates of the Military Academy in Tbilisi today. According to him, Georgia will have a modern, few in number, but very well equipped army, the one Georgia has never had in its history. As the Georgian leader said, Georgia is forming its Armed Forces on a new basis.

Saakashvili believes that Georgia’s ill-wishers “have several key tasks”: “First, it is to get rid of the acting government, because, contrary to the government of 1921, it can give orders when necessary. The second one is to throw in an idea of neutrality to Georgia.” Saakashvili reminded that in 1920, Georgia signed such a treaty with Russia and “six months later Georgia was occupied and subjugated again.”

He explained that Georgian politicians of those times did not expect help from Europe and with the treaty on neutrality were trying to “satisfying those, who wanted our subjugation.” Meanwhile, Saakashvili reminded that Georgia has no claims for Sochi. “But let nobody have claims for the territory several kilometers away from Sochi.”

At the same time he emphasized that his country remains adherent to principles of democracy and good neighborhood, but it “would never make pledges that could bind it later.” Mikhail Saakashvili stressed that Russia imposed a 100-percent trade and economic embargo against Georgia. “Any other country would collapse after that, but we had 14-percent economic growth this year only,” Saakashvili said adding that the economic growth in Russia was 6-6.5%. “Georgia managed to develop better than Russia that has oil and gas, because our resource is people and freedom,” he said.