MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgian parliament speaker Zurab Zhvaniya's retirement is nothing more than an interior political castling, Andrei Nikolayev, chairman of the defense committee in the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament, said on Monday.
Now Zhvaniya has a real chance to become prime minister, Nikolayev told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"At the same time we should understand that such castling will not lead to changes in Georgia's official policy. It is up to the Georgian people to decide who is to remain in power. But if it is [President Eduard] Shevardnadze or Zhvaniya whom Shevardnadze has called his successor, the Georgian people's situation will get more aggravated still running from one crisis to another," Nikolayev stressed.
"Russia does not welcome the crisis in Georgia for we are not indifferent to what is going on with our neighbors. But it seems that the moment of truth has come and the Georgian people must define their own destiny," Nikolayev stressed.