TBILISI. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Russia should be interested in a democratic and stable Georgia as a country maintaining security at its southern borders, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said.
"There can hardly be a head of state declaring that he deems it more beneficial to have uncontrollable and unstable territories near his borders. Confrontation with Russia is absolutely not in our interests. All countries that were earlier Warsaw Pact members and the Baltic states, which are currently NATO members, have normalized relations with Russia in the past 20 years. Russia has accepted this. Why can't it accept the European choice of Georgia, which has no aggression toward it?" Margvelashvili said on Georgian television on Wednesday evening.
He warned at the same time that Georgia will never resign itself to the occupation of part of its territory and will always demand on the international arena that they must be returned.
Touching on Georgian athletes' plans to participate in the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Margvelashvili said this is logical, as Georgia respects Olympic principles. "We respect Olympic principles, which are a way of reconciliation between nations based on goodwill. And besides, we are going to take part in the Olympics in Sochi along with countries that support us," he said.