Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Tuesday that Tbilisi is ready for negotiations with Russia "without preconditions" if Moscow shows "good will."
"If Russia shows good will and starts talks with Georgia, then Georgia is always ready for these negotiations," Saakashvili said at the meeting with officials from the country's Interior Ministry.
Such negotiations could be possible now and in the future only if Moscow treatsw Georgia as a "sovereign state that has its democratically elected authorities," he said.
"We are ready to speak about key issues in any place, at any state level and without any preconditions," Saakashvili told security service officers, whom he thanked for the recent Russia "spy" arrests.
Saakashvili added that Russian spy activities in Georgia are of no help to the development of relations between the two countries.
"If they would like to speak with the Georgian people by using only battles, provocation, blackmail and payoffs including agent networks, then that is their choice, and since that is their choice, this will not be useful for our future relations which, I hope, will some day [be restored], nor will it be helpful to regional security or to their (Russian) long-term interests," Saakashvili said.
A total of 15 people, allegedly linked to the Russian security services, were detained in Georgia last week. Two of them were released, while the others remain in custody. Four of the detainees are assumed to be Russian nationals.
Relations between Russia and Georgia have been sour since a brief war in August 2008 over the former Georgian republic of South Ossetia, which was attacked by Georgian forces in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and another former Georgian republic, Abkhazia, as independent states two weeks after the conflict. Georgia considers the two regions part of its sovereign territory.
TBILISI, November 9 (RIA Novosti)
