The Mayor of Tbilisi / Secretary General of the Georgian Dream responds to the statement by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“His statement is positive, but along with these statements, it would be good to take effective steps at the same time, such as the withdrawal of [Russian] troops from the territory of Georgia.

We are not going to live in the parallel world created by the collective United National Movement with its patrons and they want us to be immersed in this evil. As for the statement of Lavrov, of course, our Government assesses this statement positively. The fact that Russia will only welcome and support reconciliation is certainly positive, although I would say that with these statements it would be good to take specific steps in parallel.

For example, even on a certain part of our territories, which is occupied, today there are Russian military and military bases, together with these statements, it would be good to start developing an action plan to withdraw these forces from the territories of Georgia, and I repeat once again, the Georgian Government will do everything to restore trust with our Ossetian and Abkhazian brothers and sisters, and only through peace and mutual forgiveness is it possible to restore the territorial integrity and live together”, - said Kakha Kaladze.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said that Moscow is ready to help Georgia “in the process of normalizing relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, if the “countries” themselves are interested in it”.