Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said he will make a unilateral "pledge not to use force" over South Ossetia and Abkhazia and invite Russia to talks without preconditions.
In an interview with France's Figaro published on Tuesday, he also said he would make the announcements during his speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg later in the day.
"We tried everything to speak directly with the Russians. Every time we invited them to begin a dialogue, they refused in quite a rude manner. I have no choice but to turn to the moral authority of the European Parliament to make this unilateral declaration not to use force," the Georgian leader said.
"This is a controversial initiative, because every country, when occupied, has the right and even the obligation to fight for its sovereignty, including by military means. But I see things differently," Saakashvili said. "Georgia should become a European country, a modern country. We can not end up like Afghanistan or Chechnya."
He also said that Russia and Georgia, who broke off diplomatic ties after the 2008 five-day war over South Ossetia, should begin talks without any preconditions.
"We should start talking to each other," the Georgian leader said. "The situation [in Abkhazia and South Ossetia] is illegal from the point of view of international law, both in legal terms and at the local level. I don't think this is in Moscow's interests."
He described the situation in its former republics as "unbearable," with almost 500,000 people displaced, "20% of our territory occupied and two thirds of our coastline lost."
Georgia and Russia fought a brief war in South Ossetia in August 2008 after Georgian forces attacked the republic in a bid to bring it back under central control. Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states shortly after the end of the fighting.
MOSCOW, November 23 (RIA Novosti)
