Elmira Tariverdiyeva, commentator for Trend European desk
The change in the geopolitical landscape of the South Caucasus has found its reflection in the situation unfolding between Moscow and Tbilisi over recent period.
On Tuesday, the Georgian Interior Ministry announced the arrest of six people suspected of organizing a series of explosions that occurred in September-November this year near the railway station, the U.S. Embassy, office of the Georgian Labor Party. According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, those arrested acted upon the orders of the Russian Army officer, employee of Main Intelligence Directorate (MID) Yevgeny Borisov, located on the territory of Abkhazia breaking off from Georgia. The Russian side denies its involvement in the blasts in Tbilisi.
This is not the first accusation of the Russian side of the subversive acts on the territory of Georgia. About a month ago, the Georgian authorities announced the exposure of tens of illegal agents allegedly working for the Russian military intelligence.
However, despite the conflicting background of the situation, Georgia did not directly accuse Moscow of the blasts and asked it for help (!) in the interrogation of major Borisov, located in Abkhazia.
A very significant trend, showing the change in the policy of Georgia, who for the first time since the 2008 war, is trying to establish a dialogue with Moscow, even although by some questionable means. In fact, official Tbilisi simply has no other way out.
It is increasingly clear that the relations between Russia and the West strengthen, reaching a new level of cooperation, which means that despite all the support for the territorial integrity of Georgia, the West will not give preference to one of the conflicting sides.
The U.S. Administration principally refuses to choose between good relations with Russia at the expense of Georgia or its good relations with Georgia at the expense of Russia, the U.S. President's chief adviser on Russia Michael McFaul said Tuesday, ITAR-TASS reported.
The "restart" of the US-Russian relations resulted from the improvement of the climate of trust between Russia and the EU and NATO and Russia, as demonstrated by the summit of the alliance, which took place in late November in Lisbon. The meeting confirmed the agreement on joint actions of the block and Russia in Afghanistan, strengthened a united front against Iran, and brought a new agreement on the issue of interaction of Russian and European missile defense systems.
Moreover, despite that formally, Washington fully supports Georgia's right to membership to NATO, in fact, Tbilisi has almost no chances to join the alliance in the near outlook. Firstly, NATO is not ready to accept to its club a country with serious territorial problems. And secondly, from a purely technical point of view, it is not clear in what borders to accept Georgia into the alliance. Whether with the separatist regions, on the territory of which the Russian military bases are located, or without them, would automatically be recognition of the self-declared republics.
Realizing the threat of loss, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has formulated the contours of the new foreign policy articulated by him at the European Parliament on Nov. 23.
In his speeches in Strasbourg in early December and at the OSCE summit in Astana, Saakashvili said that he would not fight for the return of "20 percent of the occupied territories" after recognition of the independence of these republics by Russia. In addition, the Georgian leader has publicly called on Moscow to dialogue. Open refusal from use of force and call for diplomatic dialogue is a message, designed to strengthen the position of Tbilisi in Western European capitals and in Washington.
Furthermore, wishing to establish a dialogue with Moscow, Tbilisi is trying to use the factor of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization. Georgia has the right to block Russia's accession to the WTO, which should happen early next year.
It is not excluded that Moscow and Tbilisi could begin negotiations on Russia's accession to the WTO, Georgian Prime Minister's spokesperson Nikoloz Mchedlishvili told Trend.
Meanwhile, an experienced specialist on Russia Nikoloz Vashakidze was recently appointed as the first deputy foreign minister. A few years ago, as a diplomat, Vashakidze participated in the negotiations on withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia, later he headed Institute of Russian Studies in Tbilisi and served as first deputy defence minister of Georgia.
However, despite a number of steps made by Tbilisi towards reconciliation, Moscow is still not ready to consider the possibility of dialogue with the South Caucasus neighbor. Perhaps, because the first calls for a dialogue were made on the backdrop of the unfolding information campaign on exposure of the Russian spies in Georgia.