Moscow, August 9 (Interfax) - Georgia will become a member of NATO to demonstrate that it is protected and to finally resolve the territorial issue with Russia, said Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister for European Integration Giorgi Baramidze.
"We are making our way to NATO for everyone to see that our country is protected and cannot be conquered," Baramidze said in an interview with Kommersant Online, posted on Tuesday.
Membership in NATO would be a good prerequisite "for conducting a normal dialogue with Russia, and also for settling the territorial issue, if it remains unsettled until then," he said.
Georgia is not willing to carry the confrontation with Russia into NATO," he also said, adding that "NATO will be a positive factor for normalizing our relations."
No preferences on Russia’s part will divert Georgia from its NATO drive, Baramidze said.
There is a contradiction in Russia’s statement that NATO, on the one hand, is not a threat to Russia, but NATO enlargement is, Baramidze continued.
"If Russia is on friendly terms with NATO, how can it claim that a country’s membership of this friendly organization may be a problem?" he said.
The main issue in the relationship between Russia and Georgia is that Georgia does not want to be a subordinate, he said.
"We do not want to be a younger brother. And this is our philosophy. If this psychological factor is overcome, much will change in Russia itself with regards to Georgia," he said.
