By empty (2/18/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The cold welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov got in Tbilisi has nothing to do with the Russian minister\'s refusal to lay wreaths at Tbilisi\'s monument commemorating the fighters for Georgia\'s unity, Konstantin Gabashvili, chairman of the Georgian parliamentary committee for international relations, told Interfax on Friday. There are several outstanding problems in the two countries\' relations, and a solution to them is crucial to bringing their ties back to normal, Gabashvili said. \"The conflict zones, where the annexation of Georgian territories is effectively taking place, and Russia\'s military bases are among the problematic issues Russia has been using to put political pressure on Georgia,\" he said.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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