You're reading: Saakashvili: Russia to keep Georgia territorially divided

  DUBAI, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Russia will stop Georgia trying to reunite with two breakaway states even after a parliamentary election won by a coalition led by a politician seen as having warmer ties with Moscow, outgoing Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on Monday.

Russia, which has had no diplomatic relations with Georgia
since the two fought a brief war over separatist South Ossetia
in 2008, has reacted positively to the Oct. 1 victory of Bidzina
Ivanishvili’s coalition.

Ivanishvili, who made much of his estimated $6.4 billion
fortune in Russia, has said he wants to begin to repair
relations with Moscow, but Saakashvili, whom the Kremlin has
cast as a figure of hate, said he would face an uphill struggle.

“The basic things don’t change and the basic thing is that
Russia will fight with us over our territory,” Saakashvili told
reporters in Dubai on the sidelines of the World Energy Forum.

Russia, which dominated Georgia for centuries until the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, has said it isn’t prepared to
discuss the status of the two breakaway regions – Abkhazia and
South Ossetia – which it recognised as independent states after
its war with Tbilisi four years ago.

“The first thing that they said is that they are not going
to change it, no matter who is in government in Georgia, so that
already puts the new government in an incredibly difficult
situation,” said Saakashvili.

“It doesn’t depend on personalities, who is in charge of
Georgia, it’s really a matter of principle of what Russian
policy is and Russian policy is to encroach upon the
independence and territorial integrity of its neighbours.”

Russia rejects accusations of territorial meddling, saying
it intervened in South Ossetia in 2008 to protect its own
citizens who live there from what it said was an attempt by
Saakashvili to storm it by force.

Saakashvili said during the election campaign that he
thought Ivanishvili, 56, would favour Russia over the West.
Ivanishvili has denied that but has said he is better placed to
build bridges with Moscow.

However, he has also promised to continue Georgia’s long
drive for deeper integration with NATO and the West, a move that
would be likely to upset Russia.

Saakashvili, who has styled himself as a major U.S. ally,
said he plans to work with Ivanishvili to ensure a smooth
transition of power and hopes to take Georgia a step closer to
NATO membership before he leaves office next year.

“The last condition of NATO was that the elections should be
free and fair,” said Saakashvili. “As they were, they have been
treated as fair by everybody, so now Georgia should get a reward
for that.”

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren; Editing by Andrew Osborn)