I do not think Georgians are our enemies, I have many friends in Georgia – Sergei Shamba, former so-called deputy prime minister of the de facto republic of Abkhazia, said in an interview with Echo Moskvi.

I was the leader of the conflict with Georgia. But I also was the first one who started talking about a dialogue and thinking about the joint future.

We are neighbors and it is our destiny to live alongside. I mean not only Georgia among the neighboring countries. There were conflicts among European states too. They were fighting each other. But there is always time to settle the relationship.

In my opinion this kind of dialogue with Georgia can be started now.

Shamba spoke about the events in 1992-1993 and remembered talks with Georgia, which ended without consensus.

Former so-called deputy prime minister of the de facto republic of Abkhazia noted that they were hoping to negotiate with Georgia during the Abkhaz War.

We hoped that we would reach at least some form of agreement. We were committed to federal relations too. Then there were talks about the confederation agreement. However, Georgia rejected all of these suggestions.

We were very close to consensus. However, in the end, Georgian side did not accept any proposal.

Sergei Shamba is a senior politician who currently is a member of the so-called People’s Assembly of Abkhazia and Chairman of “United Abkhazia.”