Zeit Online: “Kvirikashvili: It’s possible to enter NATO and have good relations with Russia”

It’s impossible to feel safe when there is a Russian military base located on your territory, says Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi kvirikashvili in his interview with the online addition of the German newspaper Die Ziet.

Kvirikashvili speaks about Georgia-Russia relations and his country’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations in the interview.

He says that for Georgians being integrated with the EU means more Georgian students getting western education, business relations between Georgian and European entrepreneurs getting more intense and more investments being attracted to Georgia.

As for Russia, Kvirikashvili says that in the recent years Georgia reached an "important level of stability” with Russia, but the PM believes that this stability isn’t "comprehensive” because a part of Georgia remains occupied.

"How can one feel safe when a Russian military base is located on their territory? When citizens get arrested for crossing the borders that we legitimately don’t recognise as borders?” asks the PM.

"At this stage military adventures are not expected but it would be naïve to talk about safety,” he adds.

Kvirikashvili says that despite there is stability in Georgia, the country’s situation remains difficult.

"We are an occupied country that tries to get closer to the EU and NATO and simultaneously cares about its citizens living in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This is our strategy to survive and this is also what our people want,” Kvirikahsvili says.

He stresses that it’s possible for a country to enter NATO and maintain good relations with Russia at the same time.

Read the full interview in German here: www.zeit.de.