The Georgian Dream opposition to start talks with South Ossetia and Abkhazia without Russia

The Georgian Dream opposition coalition which emerged victorious from the Georgian parliamentary elections plans to begin talks with South Ossetia and Abkhazia without Russia.

"The talks aim to establish strong relations with the parties and to start a direct popular dialogue," Giorgy Volsky, an aide to the Georgian Dream leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, told the Georgian media.

The coalition also wants to relax laws on "occupied territory" in order to lay the groundwork for renewed relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, he said. "We don't think we should call them 'puppet regimes'. It's time we started thinking jointly and talking about security," Volsky said.

International participation in Georgian-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhaz relations should be broadened significantly and "serious political groundwork should be prepared for large-scale talks," he said.

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