"Russia should make the first step, because it is big and powerful, and has claims to being a regional power," Nino Burjanadze told RIA Novosti in an interview.
The presence of Russian peacekeeping contingents in the self-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia has been a flashpoint in relations between Moscow and Tbilisi. Georgia has accused Russia of encroaching on its territorial integrity by promoting separatist sentiment in the regions, which broke away from the central government's control during hostilities in the early 1990s.
Earlier this year, the Georgian parliament passed resolutions urging Russian peacekeepers to withdraw from South Ossetia, and said it would adopt a similar resolution on Abkhazia in mid-summer.
"The main aim of the first resolution [on South Ossetia] was, if you will, to push Russia into making some positive steps to improve its peacekeeping operation. But, unfortunately, Russia has not responded with appropriate moves," Burjanadze said.
She said the Georgian legislature's second resolution on South Ossetia was a compromise, calling for the gradual replacement of Russian peacekeepers with an alternative force.
"This was done to prevent a vacuum from being formed in the region, and [to stop] political forces using it for provocations," she said.
Tbilisi does not see "the withdrawal of peacekeepers from conflict zones as an end onto itself," Burjanadze said. "But we have a lot of objections about the way the peacekeeping operation is being run, and about political processes in the conflict zone."
As for the steps Georgia would like Russia to make over the peacekeeper dispute, Burjanadze said: "First of all, Russian officials should stop making double statements. On the one hand, they highlight in their remarks the significance of Georgia's territorial integrity and their respect for it while, on the other, they spotlight the principle of self-determination."
She added that self-determination rhetoric could pose a threat to multi-ethnic Russia's own integrity.
Georgia also hopes Moscow will respond to conflict settlement proposals, including on "cooperating in monitoring the Rokski tunnel [on the border between South Ossetia and Russia], creating a joint police force in the Gali District, moving toward a negotiated settlement of the conflicts, and sticking to bilateral agreements," Burjanadze said.
"If [Russia does] something positive, we will be only too glad to respond [in kind]," she said. "We are ready for good-neighborly cooperation with Russia, but this will take reciprocal steps."
