Georgia's accession to NATO may break up the country

Georgia's accession to NATO is a "prologue to the country's breakup," Konstantin Zatulin, Director of the Institute of CIS Countries, told journalists on Wednesday.

The political scientist is taking part in an international conference called "Prospects for European Security Cooperation between Georgia and the Russian Federation," which is being held in the Krtsanisi government residence in Tbilisi. In his opinion, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are already thinking of moving away from Georgia, and Adzharia, too, is making decisions without consulting Tbilisi. Even some of the Georgian regions under Tbilisi's jurisdiction, like Khevsuretia, Goridzhvari and others, follow their own paths of development. "Georgia's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance will only speed up the process of the country's breakup into separate regions," he believes.

"The USA will not always be communicating with Georgia on NATO's behalf, it will commission Turkey to do it," said Zatulin, who thinks this fact will inevitably outrage the Armenian population of Dzhavakhetia, a Georgian region inhabited mostly by Armenians.

At the same time, Russia "remain a regional superpower, at least for Georgia," and Tbilisi has to take this into account," he said.