Mon 01 March 2010 | 11:12 GMT Text size:

Mikheil Saakashvili

Russian newspaper the Kommersant Vlasti has published interview with Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili.

In it president reviews Georgia-Russia conflict and rules out the intention of Georgia to weaken or to collapse the state of Russia, but he expects the reforms in the Russian Federation, which will make Russia say no to confrontation with Georgia.
`I hope, sooner or later current or the future leaders of Russia will acknowledge that the only way of development for Russia is modernization, democracy and liberal economics. Only in this case they will not overload themselves with artificially created problems,` Saakashvili said and added that the politics of Vladimir Putin would not last for a long time.

`Russia has turned energy into a political tool, but the Europeans have decided to diversify energy resources and gain energy-independence from Russia,` Mikheil Saakashvili told the newspaper.

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