Georgian President blames Vladimir Putin for failing to extradite criminals

For the first time today Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze commented on President Vladimir Putin's address before the mass media on Friday. Speaking in his traditional Monday radio interview, Shevardnadze said that overall Putin's address was carefully weighted. He was also satisfied with how Putin valued the work of Georgian law enforcement agencies in the Pankisi gorge, and how he recognized Georgia's transfer to Russia of several terrorists.

However, he said that unfortunately in Russia work related to extraditing criminals of Georgia is going badly. In part, he meant former Security Minister Igor Giorgadze who is accused of organizing an assassination attempt on Shevardnadze. He also confirmed the readiness of Georgia's law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Russia in anti-terrorist activities. Shevardnadze especially expressed the necessity of fulfilling the Sochi agreements of the two presidents including the return of refugees to the Galsky region of Abkhazia, the reconstruction of the railroad from Sochi to Tbilisi and the joint reconstruction and exploitation of the Inguri power station which is located in a zone of Georgian and Abkhazian conflict.