During his official visit to the United Kingdom on 25-27 April, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili appeared on the popular BBC discussion show "Hardtalk".
During the half-hour interview Saakashvili responded to a number of hard-hitting questions concerning Georgia's integration with the Euro-Atlantic community, Georgian-Russian relations and the resolution of the "frozen conflicts" in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. 

When asked how he saw prospects for the settlement of Georgian-Russian relations, Saakashvili said: "We have never stopped speaking about reconciliation. We hope that the problems in our relations will be resolved. We wish to have good relations with Russia."

Programme host Stephen Sackur also asked about Georgia's detention of Russian military officers on spying charges in September 2006. The Georgian president responded by saying that when a country is under threat, it must act and express its position publicly. "We did not seek to have Georgia portrayed in a negative light. Our country is quite successful; we have nothing against Russia," he said.

Later Sackur took interest in the details of the recent bombing of Georgian-controlled villages in Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge and asked Saakashvili to explain Georgia's accusations against Russia. "The Georgian government is accusing Russia because a great number of questions have arisen. This area is located adjacent to Russia. Only Russia could have bombed it at night. Everyone is interested in the findings of the investigation. We are saying that Russia is capable of this from a technical standpoint, but the final word belongs to the UN," Saakashvili said. 

The host of the programme also asked Saakashvili about prospects for Georgia's accession to NATO and brought up Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 

Saakashvili said that the peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have to make a choice between a Soviet system and European democracy. Thousands of people were expelled from their homes. The few people who have remained in Abkhazia wish to achieve independence through elections. In my opinion this is a cannibalistic policy."

At the end of the interview Saakashvili said that Georgia had a good chance to achieve its most important goal, that of becoming a NATO member country.

Press Office
of the President of Georgia