Georgia, Tbilisi, Nov. 22 / Trend N. Kirtskhalia /
Russia will become a NATO member soon, former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said today in an interview with the Georgian weekly Asaval-Dasavali.
According to the ex-leader, the restoration of Georgia's territorial integrity from this viewpoint is a long-term prospect.
"The Georgian authorities are not going to negotiate with Russia, though it is necessary," he said. "Without this dialogue, the issue of Georgia's territorial integrity will not be resolved. We have been talking about this for a long time. Who will hold the negotiations?"
Shevardnadze stressed that the resolutions recently accepted by the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in support of Georgia "do not decide anything."
"These are just words, and even during my presidency, the U.N. adopted eight resolutions in favor of Georgia, but nobody fulfills them," he said.
Shevardnadze also pointed out that in recent times French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been "pointedly silent." Sarkozy initiated the Georgian-Russian agreement on ending the 2008 August war between the two countries.
"He is not requiring the fulfillment of this agreement himself, as he has a lot of his own problems - it is unlikely that he will try to establish Georgian-Russian relations again," he said.
Meanwhile, Shevardnadze called the meeting between the Georgian and U.S. presidents "important" for Tbilisi.
"This is support for Georgia's territorial integrity by the United States and this is important," he said.