Federation Council Speaker to Meet with Georgian Parliamentarians Soon

As Chairman of the Higher House of the CIS Committee Vadim Gustov told journalists today, Federation Council Speaker Sergey Mironov would meet with Georgian parliamentarians in the end on May, the meeting being a higher-rank follow-up to the talks between Georgian and Russian parliamentarians that took place in Vladikavkaz from April 24 to 27. Apparently the talks will focus on a wide range of issues including those of further intensification of interaction between shared-border regions, the aim being to settle the Russian-Georgian conflict and incorporate South Osetia into the bilateral cooperation, thus clinching the debate concerning this region's political status. Gustov further noted that Georgia was ready to negotiate with the South Osetian government despite having recently refused the republic financial aid barely worth more than five one-storey houses. Gustov also informed that the Vladikavkaz round of talks had taken on the issue of extending mandate to Russian peacekeepers in the zone of Georgia-Osetia conflict and Georgia had proposed turning Russian peacekeepers into some sorts of multi-purpose peacekeeping committee. The coming session of the CIS Committee of Russian Federation Council will discuss federal financing to rebuild Russian settlement along Russia-Georgia shared border. 'We are damaging our image when we take decades to finish short-term projects,' he added.