Ivanishvili
is ready to hold his first visit to Washington after election victory.
Georgia’s
richest man began talks on forming a government for the former Soviet republic
yesterday and addressed fears over his links with Moscow by saying his first
visit abroad would be to the United States.
Billionaire
Bidzina Ivanishvili urged President Mikheil Saakashvili, a staunch U.S. ally,
to resign following Oct. 1’s parliamentary election, which the president
conceded his party had lost to Ivanishvili’s coalition. He has acknowledged his
six-party coalition is fragile and that he faces a difficult balancing act
between the West and Moscow, which welcomed his election victory as a chance
for better ties.
Ivanishvili
said he wants to mend ties with Moscow and denies Saakashvili’s accusations he
is a Russian stooge. “My first visit abroad will be to Washington and the
United States is our main partner,” Ivanishvili told reporters yesterday.
Russia
hopeful
His
remarks came as Russia said it hoped the election victory in Georgia of
Ivanishvili’s opposition coalition will help normalize relations between the
two neighbors, which fought a brief war in 2008. Moscow and Tbilisi broke
diplomatic ties after Georgian forces were routed in five days in August 2008
in a war that ended with Russia recognizing breakaway South Ossetia and
Abkhazia as independent states. “It is obvious that Georgian society has voted
for changes,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“Such development would be welcomed in Russia.
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