Davit Bakradze, the Georgian foreign minister: “As a result of an agreement between the presidents, [direct] air traffic will be resumed between Russia and Georgia in the nearest future, it is expected that flights will resume from the second half of March.”

Georgia says it will move to formally ask Russian peacekeepers to leave the breakaway region of Abkhazia following reports that they seized and beat five Georgian police officers.

ARCHIL GEGESHIDZE

There are several reasons behind the victory of the “United National Movement” in Georgia's parliamentary elections, which took place on May 21. One of them is that the ruling party has drawn the right conclusions from the January presidential election.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

There was a lot of electoral fraud in the parliamentary elections that took place in Georgia on May 21. Such elections do not favor the rapprochement between Georgia and NATO. At the NATO summit in Bucharest it was decided that all the Alliance members would observe the parliamentary elections in Georgia carefully.

SERGEI BAGAPSH

What will Abkhazia do, if Georgia joins NATO? Abkhazia will do nothing. Let Georgia join NATO even tomorrow. We do not care about that.

TEMUR IAKOBASHVILI

It is impossible to settle the conflicts, on which I am working, without Russia’s participation, especially today when the situation has become so strained that the so-called "frozen conflicts" have got "unfrozen".

DAVID LOSABERIDZE

The Georgia's ruling party has one serious problem – its approval rating is falling. This is due to the lack of clear strategy rather than to the unpopular reforms.

KONSTANTIN GABASHVILI

We do not want to be at war with anybody. We want to normalize the situation, start negotiating with Russia and other countries to put an end to the conflict.

VALERY KENYAIKIN

The parliamentary elections will be held in Georgia soon. That’s why an “external enemy” is being looked for to mobilize the country’s public opinion.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

Probably, Burjanadze thought that the President had grown weaker and she would be able to put her team on the list. But the point is that Saakashvili is unfair to his partners. At the last moment she was prohibited from doing that. Burjanadze was left alone.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Almost all significant political forces in Georgia, including the ruling party, say that there are sufficient reasons for making the compromises with Russia that would not infringe upon Georgia’s national interests.

ALEXANDER KRYLOV, ALEKSEY MALASHENKO, ANATOLY OTYRBA, SERGEI MARKEDONOV, SHALVA PICHKHADZE, ZURAB ABASHIDZE, IVLIAN KHAINDRAVA

"For the first time the President of Georgia has put forward such far-reaching proposals," Alexander Krylov.

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

The other day Berezovsky clarified the hints which he had dropped about his moral responsibility and his wish to continue Patarkatsishvili’s work.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

The main purpose of the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's visit to the USA is to enlist the support for Georgia’s joining NATO Action Plan that will be on the agenda of the April NATO summit in Bucharest.

DMITRY MEDOEV, GURAM GUMBA, SERGEI ARUTYUNOV, SERGEI MARKEDONOV

"If to look at a map, one can realize that in the event of the conflict in Abkhazia the Georgian party is doomed to defeat, as has happened before. This is why Abkhazia has a very good chance of becoming independent," Sergei Arutyunov.

DMIRTY MEDOEV, VLADIMIR KHOMERIKI, MIKHAIL ALEKSANDROV

"After the recognition of Kosovo, South Ossetia’s position remains unchanged. When asked about our attitude to that precedent we have always answered that it is South Ossetia that can be a de jure precedent for Kosovo, not vice versa," Dmitry Medoev.

KONSTANTIN GABASHVILI

Georgia’s wishing to change the format of the Mixed Verification Committee on Settlement of the Georgian-Ossetic conflict and the consideration by the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the situation with South Ossetia and Abkhazia during the March 13 parliament hearings are different things.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

I believe that the opposition and the West’s intensive efforts will make it possible to hold the forthcoming parliamentary elections in a more democratic setting than the presidential ones. But I am far from supposing that those elections will be absolutely fair. 

ZAAL ANJAPARIDZE

Mikheil Saakashvili once again extends hand of friendship to Russia and proposes to “turn over a new leaf” in bilateral relations.

MALKHAZ SALDADZE

In spite of Mikheil Saakashvili’s initiative to offer the opposition politicians posts in the government, nothing was done in this direction. Apparently, neither the authorities nor the opposition were ready for such a turn.  

SERGEI MARKEDONOV

It is unlikely that after the election President Mikheil Saakashvili has changed his position on Georgian-Russian relations. For the time being, the statements about his wish to normalize those relations cannot be taken seriously.

GHIA NODIA

Non-recognition of the presidential election results is one of the opposition’s trump cards. So, I do not think that the opposition will make serious concessions to the authorities.

DAVID BERDZENISHVILI

The Georgian opposition believes that Mikheil Saakashvili is not a legitimate President. Those polls were rigged everywhere. In the large regional centers Saakashvili took less than 50 percent of the vote.

GHIA NODIA

Abkhazia, an unrecognized republic of Georgia, held December 6 a “national gathering” to express its will to gain independence.

SERGEI MARKEDONOV

The Georgian minister on conflict settlement, Giorgi Khaindrava, called the recent meeting between the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia a "statehood game." While Georgian officials continue to describe political developments in the breakaway republics in this way, Abkhazia is taking a number of very important political steps that may give its cause a boost.