Gregory Karasin to continue dialogue with Zurab Abashidze in Prague
By Inga Kakulia
Monday, November 4
Gregory Karasin will continue dialogue with Georgian Prime Minister's Special Representative. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova shared this information on November 1st.
“Under the instruction of the Russian authorities, Mr. Karasin will continue to participate in these meetings. The next meeting in Prague is expected to take place at the end of November,” Khazarova told Russian media.
Gregory Karasin was dismissed as Deputy Foreign Minister in early September and was replaced with Andrey Rudenko.
When asked about what weight this dialogue can hold after the dismissal of Karasin from his previous position, Zurab Abashidze replied that Karasin is a member of the Federation Council, as well as a senator and was instructed by the country's leadership to fulfill that mission.
“According to the instructions of the country's leadership, it was similarly mandated when he was in Prague as Deputy Foreign Minister. He spoke the language that Russia speaks and the positions of other Russian officials. As for our format, some productive steps have been taken there,” said Abashidze.
According to him, he will use this format to talk about the occupation.
“As you know, the Prague format mainly deals with trade-economic issues, transport communication problems, humanitarian issues. We have taken some steps since 2013 to rebuild trade relations. There are many Georgian companies involved in transport links, their interests need to be protected, in general, the protection of the state's economic relations in Prague is important. We do not have diplomatic relations, perfect missions, so discussing these issues somewhere is a must,” said Abashidze.
The response to the continuation of Karasin’s Participation in talks with Georgia has received some mixed responses.
“If Gregory Karasin does not have the status and is participating in the dialogue that way this is an abnormal situation. As a rule, people of the same status should be involved in the Geneva talks as well as in other formats,” said one of the leaders of European Georgia, Giga Bokeria.
According to him, the main problem is that the Georgian authorities have no vision, conviction, or how to lead a diplomatic battle with Russia when Russia is still aggravating the situation along the occupation line and is a major threat to our freedom.
The Member of the Parliamentary majority Gia Volksi commented on the topic and noted that Karasin has been involved in the negotiations since 2013 and during this time much has been done to enable the format.
“Who will be in the talks is not of great interest, but the fact is that Karasin has been involved in these talks since 2013. During this time a lot was done that was only possible because of this format… As for Karasin himself, I cannot overlook Karasin's diplomatic data, there is someone who represents his state and the interests of his state” said Volski.
