TBILISI. April 25 (Interfax-AVN) - NATO envoy in the South Caucasus Robert Simmons said NATO has questions about Russia's role as a mediator in the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts.
Simmons told a press briefing at the Georgian Foreign Ministry on Thursday that the incident involving the downing of a Georgian reconnaissance drone was a provocation to which the Georgian leadership must not yield.
NATO has said on many occasions that it supports Georgia's territorial integrity and values its desire to settle the conflicts peacefully, he said.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nikoloz Vashakidze said that talks with the NATO special envoy "were held in an atmosphere of complete mutual understanding." "We mostly discussed two issues of interest to NATO: the settlement of the conflicts and preparations for the parliamentary election due in May," he said.