Tbilisi – The arguments that Georgia developed against Russia after it spy plane was shot down while it was flying over Abkhazia received solid support from Robert Simmons, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the NATO, or North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for the Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
Simmons met in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, with Temur Yakobashvili, a senior Georgian official ministering a governmental unit that had been established shortly before Georgia made it public that it would regain its control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "However provocative Russia might be, Georgia should retain its peaceful approach," Simmons told reporters.
Simmons accorded special emphasis to the proposal from Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili to offer Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two ‘de facto’ independent countries that seek true, international recognition of their independence, an extended version of autonomy as a peaceful solution to the trouble between Abkhazia and South Ossetia on the one hand and Georgia on the other: "Georgia’s offer to supply extended autonomy is evidence that Georgia adopts a peaceful approach."
However, Simmons did not make an evaluation of Georgia’s attempts to fly its spy planes over Abkhazia.
When Simmons met with Georgia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Nikoloz Vajakidze, their topic of discussion was Georgia’s will to join the NATO. Vajakidze said that his meeting with Simmons was a significant step forward toward Georgia’s full membership into the NATO.
Support that came from the international community to Georgia after its unmanned scouting planes were shot down has also been significant to notice, Vajakidze said.(Agency Caucasus)
