Georgia seeks to restore Moscow-Tbilisi-Yerevan railway line

State Minister of Georgia for Reintegration Paata Zakareishvili held a press conference at the international office of Ria Novosti in Tbilisi on restoration of the Russian-Georgian railway line.

The minister talked about the restoration of Sukhumi part of the Moscow-Tbilisi-Yeravan railway line, which was destroyed 20 years ago, Georgian bureau of APA reports

“Will it threat independence of Georgia and Azerbaijan if Russia will transport military equipment to Gyumri base of Russia in Armenia?” P. Zaakarashvili responded to the question:
“We have not launched discussions with Russia yet. This issue is not discussed at any level anywhere. It can be discussed in future.

To APA’s correspondent question “Who will the status belong to if Sukhumi railway line is restored?” P. Zakareishvili answered:
“We have not discussed the details. This issue does not concern the ministry headed by me. The status issue has not been included in the agenda yet. But we can touch this issue at Russian-Georgian negotiations as well as these discussions can be skipped.”

The Minister also talked about illegal border crossings of Georgian-Russian border.
“Unfortunately, the relations became more strained after Russia recognized Abkhazia. If Russia didn’t recognize Abkhazia we could solve a number of issues easily. Russia’s recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia does not meet Georgia’s laws because Georgia doesn’t recognize Abkhazia and international community knows that these territories belong to Georgia. If somebody will cross Georgian-Russian border that person will be punished under our laws. I guess, these punishments can also be lighter. It is not necessary to jail somebody. It can be paid as a penalty. The population should know that they can reach the final via paying a penalty but not being in prison. But jailing is a very serious kind of punishment.”

The State Minister also expressed his attitude toward refugees’ returning to their homelands. “The refugees can return to their homelands if territorial integrity of Georgia will be restored. Now, 70 percent of refugees want to return Abkhazia. It is not possible yet. August, 2008 events backwarded Georgia. But we should think of going forward but not criticize the past. The decision on the settlement of Abkhazian conflict should be made together, we should decide how we will live with Abkhazians together. We should work on this.”


/APA/