Georgy Khaindrava told journalists that he would meet with representatives from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Security Council officials, and politicians, to discuss peacekeeping work and the resolution adopted by Georgia's parliament Wednesday to replace Russian troops with an international contingent.
Khaindrava said he hoped the parliamentary resolution would not damage relations between Georgia and Russia.
The resolution outlines major changes to the peacekeeping process in the republic and gives a negative assessment to the peacekeepers' work in South Ossetia, which declared its independence in the early 1990s following bloody conflicts that accompanied the breakup of the Soviet Union. The parliament and some of the country's senior officials claim Russia's activities in the region were tantamount to annexation attempts.
Khaindrava said, "I will inform the Russian side on the current developments and will try to convince it that the moves proposed by Georgia were vital for the peaceful settlement of the conflict."
The Georgian minister conceded that parliament's move may provoke further clashes in the conflict zone, but said the Georgian government would not backtrack on its position, and would pursue its peaceful initiatives.
The long-standing dispute over the Russian peacekeeping contingent flared up earlier this month when Georgian police detained a Russian peacekeepers' truck that had been involved in a traffic accident near South Ossetia.
Russian troops have been patrolling the region as part of a trilateral peacekeeping force, including Ossetians and Georgians, deployed there in the early 1990s after a conflict with South Ossetia.
