Moscow, Tbilisi holding secret talks?

PanARMENIAN.Net - Georgia has had secret talks through intermediaries with Russian officials about restoring direct flights and diplomatic ties after the August war, the Kommersant daily reported Tuesday.



The newspaper said that the key intermediary in the talks has been Mikheil Khubutia, the head of the Union of Georgians in Russia, who the paper said met Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on November 21 in Munich.



"I spoke recently to Saakashvili," Khubutia told the newspaper, without confirming the date of his meeting with the president or that he had met Russian officials.



"We discussed restoring flights between Georgia and Russia and restoring diplomatic relations," he said. "He seems disappointed that Georgia has not been given an action plan for NATO membership and that he has not received the due support from Europe," he added.



However talks on a resumption of ties would be a major turnaround amid the current war of words between Moscow and Tbilisi in the aftermath of their August conflict over Georgian pro-Russian breakaway regions.



Kommersant also quoted sources close to the Russian presidency as saying that there was no hope for a solution as long as the pro-Western Saakashvili remained in power.



"He understands that himself. He needs to vacate his post rather than trying to find a way out of this dead end."