19 June 2006 - NATO AND RUSSIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS TO MEET IN SOCHI

This meeting comes at a crucial juncture for the region as well as for the relationship between Russia and the West, just a few days ahead of the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg. It takes place a few kilometres away from the border between Russia and Georgia, a country that has officially stated its goal of rapidly joining the Alliance. One will recall that, as recently as last month, a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, led by its President Pierre Lellouche visited Georgia, including the two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The seminar in Sochi is part of the Alliance’s overall effort to help the countries of the South Caucasus – demonstrated during the last Plenary session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Paris, attended by President Saakashvili of Georgia and President Aliyev of Azerbaijan – and to promote dialogue with Russia and with Russian legislators to that effect.

In Sochi, parliamentarians will discuss Russia’s relations with Western countries ahead of the G-8 Summit in St. Petersburg, with keynote presentations from Rose Gottemoeller, Director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, and Ambassador Alexander Alexeyev of the Russian Foreign Ministry. In two separate sessions, Paul Fritch, Head of Russia and Ukraine relations at NATO Political Affairs division will address in more detail relations between Russia and the Alliance, and Andrej Kelin, responsible for CIS relations in the Russian Foreign Ministry, will focus on Russian policies in the region.

Substantial sessions will be devoted to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, involving Georgi Khaindrava, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution, Sabine Freizer of the International Crisis Group, as well as representatives from the de facto governments of the two runaway provinces; and to Nagorno Karabakh, involving Ambassador Vladimir kazimirov, former Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, and senior officials from the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan.