We noted the ballyhoo raised in Tbilisi over the meeting of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with his Georgian counterpart David Zalkaliani in New York. Regrettably, we again hear trite ideas about “occupation.” Besides it seems that our Georgian colleagues are more worried about the protocol and format than the content of the talks.

For our part, we are convinced that the interests of the Russian and Georgian peoples require a direct and honest conversation. The first meeting between the two countries’ foreign ministers in the past 12 years that was held in New York was designed to find a way out of the difficult situation in Russian-Georgian relations, which in part took shape as a result of the events of June and July of this year.

Using this opportunity we would like to thank Switzerland, which has represented Russian interests in Georgia and Georgian interests in Russia for the past 11 years and which contributed to the organization of the said meeting.