Georgia poses zero threat to Sochi Winter Olympics: President

The president of the South Caucasus country of Georgia on Friday said that his country did not plan to pose threat to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi.

Creating "physical threat" to the 2014 Sochi games "is neither in our plans nor in our capability," said Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili while commenting on an earlier statement made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

The Russian president indicated that Georgia, that went into a conflict with Russia in August of 2008, could pose threat to the Sochi Winter Olympics.

The Georgian president said that back in 2007 Georgia supported "openly and with huge enthusiasm" Sochi's bid to host the 2014 winter games.

The Georgian president made the remarks while being interviewed by Georgia's Russian-language television company First Caucasus Channel.

In November last year, a committee under the Georgian parliament discussed ways to arouse international awareness of the chosen site of the 2014 winter Olympics.

The parliamentary committee in charge of territorial integrity proposed to the government of the country to activate campaigns against holding the 2014 winter games in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi, some 20 kilometers away from Abkhazia which Georgia claims sovereignty.

Abkhazia pronounced independence in the wake of the 1991-1994 civil war of Georgia and was recognized by several countries around the world since August of 2008.

Parliamentary committee chairman Shota Malashkhia proposed that Georgia resort to ecological, security and historic factors to persuade the international community to stay away from Sochi or to change to another venue.

Source:Xinhua