Georgia, Tbilisi /corr. Trend N.Kirskhalia / According to the order of the President of Georgia, Russian activities to rehabilitate the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone is considered illegal as of 20 April 2007. "Establishing temporary administrative bodies in the conflict zone headed by Dmitry Sanakov, Georgia will itself begin the process of rehabilitating the conflict zone. Under these conditions, Russia has no right to interfere in the economic processes in the territory of sovereign State," said the Chairman of Temporary Commission for Restoration of Territorial Integrity of Georgia, Shota Malashkhiya.
The President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvily, signed an order ceasing the validity of the agreement between Georgia and Russia on cooperating in economic restoration in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone. The order had been signed in April 2007, but was only now announced.
According to Malashkhiya, the Russian side should precisely follow international norms and carry out its projects within international donor programs with Georgia's consent. He said that earlier Russia carried out rehabilitation work in a one-sided manner and afterwards tried to legalize these actions through Tbilisi. "Last time, the Russian delegation defined an account totaling $3mln which was put forward as being spent on the improvement of Tskhinvaly's infrastructure. The Georgian side refused to document Moscow's proposal as there were not any changes in Tskhinvaly," Malashkhiya said.
Malashkhiya said that for Georgia, there will not be any consequences in ceasing the agreement because after one side leaves the bilateral agreement, it needs to be ceased. "We expect certain hysteria from the Deputies of the Russian State Duma. Georgia will be accused of efforts to destabilize the situation, but all these will remain with the impact of air," the Deputy said.
In his telephone interview with Trend from Moscow, the Director of the Moscow Department of Heritage Foundation, politician Yevgeny Volk assessed the above-mentioned order of the Georgian President as an alarm of escalation of tension in Caucasus. "Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvily's actions reflect their present policy with regards to Russia. It testifies the deep distrust between Georgia and Russia," Volk said.