Georgian opposition praises Burdjanadze for meeting Putin.

TBILISI, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Georgian opposition politicians
praised former parliament speaker Nino Burdjanadze for meeting Russian
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Conservative Party leader Zviad Dzidziguri said on Thursday it was "a
courageous decision".

"The engagement of such an experienced politician as Burdjanadze in
the settlement of relations with the Russian Federation will promote
normalization of relations between the two countries," he said.
Georgia's former Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, who now heads the
opposition party For Fair Georgia, said Burdjanadze's meeting with Putin
was "extremely important".
"Normalization of relations with Russia is among the vital interests
of Georgia, therefore meetings of Georgian politicians with Russian
authorities are very important," he told reporters.
Burdjanadze, who now leads the opposition United Georgia Democratic
Movement party, told the Maestro TV channel from Moscow "if there's no
dialogue and no meetings /with Russian officials/, then it'll be
impossible to normalize relations between the two countries."
Burdjanadze said she had a detailed discussion with Putin of the ways
to normalize bilateral relations and resolve existing problems.
She became the second Georgian opposition politician after Nogaideli
to visit the Russian capital of late.
Russian-Georgian relations sharply deteriorated following Georgian
armed intrusion into the breakaway region of South Ossetia in 2008 which
was crushed by Russian forces. Following the five-day war Russia
recognized the sovereignty of two de-facto independent Georgian provinces
- South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia severed diplomatic relations with
Russia in response.

.Biden calls for free election in Georgia.

WASHINGTON, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden had a
telephone conversation with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on
Thursday and "encouraged Georgia's democratic reform process and the
desire for an open, transparent, and free process during Georgia's
upcoming elections."
The White House said Biden "affirmed U.S. support for Georgia's
sovereignty and territorial integrity."
He also thanked Saakashvili for Georgia's important contribution to
the international mission in Afghanistan.

.Russian envoy criticizes ODIHR for Tajik election.

VIENNA, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian Ambassador to the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Anvar Azimov criticized the
Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) for "excessive
captiousness" in assessing elections in former Soviet republics and in
Tajikistan, in particular.
"ODIHR assessments of election processes in member-states are
excessively captious regarding CIS counties," he told a meeting of the
OSCE Permanent Council on Thursday.
"In twenty years of Tajik independence ODIHR representatives have not
recognized a single election cycle there as democratic. Such a fact again
confirms the necessity to draft unified election monitoring rules for the
ODIHR that would allow to systemize the work of the Office and put it on a
strict normative base agreed with all member-states," the ambassador said.
CIS observers at the latest parliamentary election in Tajikistan said
the campaign complied with the national constitution and was held in a
democratic environment. They said the election provided for a free
expression of the will of the voters and demonstrated further
strengthening of democratic norms in the life of the country.
Observers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization said the election
was "free and transparent".
However, ODIHR conclusions sharply contradicted with the assessments.
Although the Office characterized the election process as transparent and
positive, it said the polls did not comply with numerous key OSCE
commitments and basic democratic standards.
Azimov recalled that in 2007 Russia and some other countries submitted
a draft of basic election monitoring principles for the ODIHR. "We believe
it is time to begin considering the proposals that would help draft
collective guidelines in the sphere of election monitoring to increase the
efficiency of our organization and exclude dual standards," he said.

.First Russian humanitarian aid arrives in Chile.

SANTIAGO, March 5 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian rescuers and Chilean military
unloaded the first aircraft with Russian humanitarian aid to quake-hit
country on Thursday.
The Il-76 cargo plane delivered 28 tons of tents, mobile power
generators, pumps, blankets and canned meat.
Chile's Defense Minister Francisco Vidal and Russian Ambassador Yuri
Filatov met the aircraft in the international airport of Santiago.
Presidential representative Patricio Canelo Reyes thanked Russia for
assistance and said Chile mostly needs tents, food and drinking water.
Close to 800 people were killed by the devastating quake force 8.8 on
February 27 and dozens are still missing. A total of two million people
were affected by the quake.
-0-nec


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