Thu 11 March 2010 | 12:52 GMT Text size:

"The relations between Tbilisi and Moscow will not change unless the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is settled."

Opening  of the Upper Lars checkpoint has nothing to do with the normalization of Georgian-Russian relations, Georgian Ambassador to Armenia Grigol Tabatadze told a news conference in Yerevan.

According to him, the relations between Tbilisi and Moscow will not change unless the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is settled. He noted that Georgia has no economic benefit from the opening of the checkpoint and did so primarily for Armenia, since Georgia is aware of the importance of the checkpoint for Yerevan. 

According to the Georgian diplomat, the only benefit for Georgia is that with opening of the checkpoint the country will be able to transport its cargo via the Russian territory. “I know that the Armenian cargoes are already passing via the Upper Lars checkpoint”, Tabatadze said.

Commenting on the statements of former Georgian state minister about the resolution of the conflicts, one of the leaders of the United Opposition Georgy Khaindrava that Russia opened the Upper Lars checkpoint only to supply its military base in Gumri with arms, Tabatadze said: “Not a single arm will pass via the checkpoint”. Meanwhile, he noted that he does not think that the checkpoint opening is a threat to the national security of Georgia, because before the opening of the control checkpoint the Georgian side discussed this issue within the framework of the Council of National Security and all possible scripts were assessed. “We believe we were not mistaken in our assessments”, the Georgian ambassador in Armenia said.

PanARMENIAN.Net