MOSCOW. Oct 26 (Interfax-AVN) - The normalization of relations between Russia and Georgia depends on Tbilisi's preparedness to stop hostile escapades against Moscow and provocative steps against Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
"Prospects for normalizing relations depend on Tbilisi's preparedness to guarantee, not in words but in deeds, that it will stop its hostile escapades against Russia and abandon its provocative course in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which is leading to the fuelling of a military fire in the near vicinity of our southern borders," Lavrov said in an interview with the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.
"We believe that, as an urgent first step, Georgia should sign documents on the non-use of force and security guarantees with Sukhumi and Tskhinvali," he said.
Moscow would like "our neighbors to calm down and actively start resolving their internal problems, of which they have not a few, including numerous violations of human rights and freedoms and the intimidation and suppression of the opposition, to which Council of Europe and human rights organizations have repeatedly pointed," Lavrov said.
"It is necessary to resolve these problems rather than try to rationalize inaction and reprisals against the opposition by the mythical Russian threat," he said.