Georgian PM ready for direct dialogue with Russian leadership

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili said Tuesday that he is ready for direct dialogue with the Russian leadership on restoring bilateral relations. "I can't tell you about the time or type of the dialogue," Gharibashvili said on a local television talk show aired late Tuesday. "Such meetings need very serious planning and preparation, especially after such a long pause." Gharibashvili also told television interviewers Georgia's partners had welcomed the South Caucasus country's constructive steps toward Russia and called upon Georgia to intensify constructive dialogue with Russia. Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze told the press Wednesday she did not rule out meetings between top officials from Georgia and Russia. "We saw specific results last year in the framework of the Abashidze-Karasin format. This format is good, but it doesn't solve our main problem," the foreign minister said. There have been several rounds of talks between the Georgian prime minister's special envoy, Zurab Abashidze, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. Their talks began shortly after the former opposition coalition won the country's parliamentary elections and formed a new government late in 2012. Georgia cut off diplomatic relations with Russia after a brief armed conflict in August 2008 over control of the Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.