Zurabishvili says not ready to cooperate with Russia

Georgia’s President-elect Salome Zurabishvili is not ready for cooperation with Russia, as she herself said in an interview with the BBC Russian Service.

"I don’t think that… we can today enter into cooperation mode," she said. We are Europe and pro-European. If the West and Europe and our American partners move to any form of discussion with Russia, that’s where we need to be close, informed, in order for our principles, our objectives, our sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected," the Georgian president-elect added.

"At the time of the negotiations I had with Russia I was before and after each session of negotiations referring to the European presidency and the American Embassy. And that was something that was known by my counterpart and accepted," Zurabishvili noted.

She stressed that she intended to be a very active president as far as Georgia’s integration with the European Union and NATO was concerned.

Zurabishvili, supported by the Georgian Dream ruling party, won the run-off presidential election on Wednesday, receiving 59.52% of the vote. Her rival Grigol Vashadze, nominated by the United National Movement, gained 40.48%.