Putin calls for better ties with Georgia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Friday pressed for better ties with Tbilisi as he met a key Georgian opposition leader who has tried to unseat Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Moscow's foe.

Putin told former Georgian parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze he hoped to restore relations with Tbilisi, frozen since a brief August 2008 war. "I hope very much that by relying on those people who want normal relations with Russia, we will be able to restore our relations to their pre-crisis level," Putin said in the televised meeting. "I am absolutely certain that normal ties with Russia are in the interests of my people and my country," said Burjanadze, a leader of street protests in Tbilisi last year aimed at forcing Saakashvili's resignation.

Burjanadze, a former ally of the Georgian president who became an outspoken critic after the 2008 war, has been seen as a possible successor to Saakashvili, though last year's protests failed to draw much support. Russia refuses to have any dealings with Saakashvii, a pro-Western leader who has sought to bring Georgia into the NATO military alliance.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in August 2008 over the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, which Russia later recognized as an independent state along with another rebel region, Abkhazia. Georgia considers the two regions to be under Russian occupation. Only three other countries have joined Russia in recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent while the rest of the world considers them Georgian territory.