TBILISI, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia wants good relations with Russia but will not prostrate itself before its giant neighbor, President Mikheil Saakashvili said Wednesday at a government session.
"We want good relations with Russia, but these should not be relations where we kneel before Russia and beg it. We won't sign a single capitulation agreement," Saakashvili said.
"Even an adversary should be respected to a certain degree, but that does not mean give up on your own country's interests," he said.
The Georgian leader said Georgia would definitely establish itself as a free, modern and democratic country.
"We will free our territories - there is no historical alternative, and we won't leave this task to future generations, we are dealing with it every day," he said.
Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states after last August's five-day war with Georgia, which launched a military offensive on South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
President Dmitry Medvedev said that the move was "the only way to protect people's lives." Western powers called the decision unacceptable, and Tbilisi declared its two former republics occupied territories.
The republics split from Georgia in bloody post-Soviet conflicts, and most residents have been Russian passport holders for many years.
