ArmeniaNow  Relations between South Caucasus neighbors Armenia and Georgia appear to be neighborly and are even called ‘strategic’.

Still, judging by reports in the press, Armenians there are routinely unhappy with the attitude of Georgian leadership towards Armenian cultural and ecclesiastical heritage, as well as towards the Armenians who compactly live in Samtskhe-Javakheti, located on the border with Armenia. Georgia, for the most part, shows dissatisfaction with the presence of a Russian military bases on the territory of Armenia, and with Yerevan’s close relations with Moscow in general.

His Holiness Karekin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, is due to pay a visit to Georgia at the end of October. And at the beginning of October Georgia’s Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze is expected to visit Yerevan. The agenda of the negotiations is not disclosed, but it is clear that the countries will try to find common interests, which were separated after Georgia saw its Rose Revolution in 2003, embarked on the pro-Western path, applied for NATO membership, and Armenia, on the contrary, strengthened its links with Russia.

Russia and NATO are unable to come to agreement on the Georgian issue, NATO Secretary Genera Anders Fogh Rasmussen said. According to him, for NATO it is unacceptable that there is a concentration of Russian troops in Georgian territory without Tbilisi’s official permission as well as S-300 missile defense systems are deployed. He said he would soon pay a visit to Georgia.

Director of the Armenian Center for National and International Studies Richard Giragosian noted: “Russia is trying to recover Georgia and lock it in the region. Georgia is isolated, it is probably the only country that has access to the sea and ports, but is locked in all directions. That is why the idea of creating a confederation [with Azerbaijan] appeared,” he says.

Georgia, still unofficially, suggested establishing a confederation with Azerbaijan. This idea is consonant with the plan to form a Caucasus security platform floated by Turkey and the approach of the West, which considers the Caucasus as a whole region.

Speaking at the UN tribune, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili suggested creating a single powerful Caucasus.

“Help us to secure peace, in Georgia, but also in our broader region. If there is clear support from the international community, I am convinced that a lasting peace can be secured in the Caucasus,” the Georgian leader said.

“Anxious search for foreign shelter has led us to subjugation, assimilation or annexation. It has authorized foreign leaders to artificially emphasize and manipulate our divisions…In the past, Georgian citizens were perceiving our border with the Ottoman Empire as an absolute threat. Today, we have passport free customs, joint airport and free trade with Turkey.”

Meanwhile, some Armenian media follow the Russian trend in portraying Georgia as an ‘enemy’ state where people are dying of hunger, that closes roads for Armenia, etc, and Saakashvili as a puppet of the West.

Recently, popular Russian satiric writer and standup comedian Mikhail Zhvanetsky appealed to Russian authorities to make public the information about Georgia that is not allowed to be reported because of censorship. “Open this Georgia for us. They say their domestic policies are smarter than their foreign policies. Everybody says they’v done away with corruption. Everybody says but I don’t know, there is nowhere I can read about it. Everyone says they have abolished traffic police. What prevents us from borrowing this?”