AKHALKALAK (A-Info/EurasiaNet)–National Movement leader and Georgian presidential candidate Mikhail Saakashvili–is due to visit Javakhk soon–as a part of his campaign strategy. Saakashvili–who is the de facto leader of the governing provisional triumvirate in Tbilisi–is widely viewed as the odds-on favorite to win the presidential vote
Russian officials worry–however–that a Saakashvili-led administration in Tbilisi will make a radical foreign policy departure–steering Georgia away from Russia’s sphere of influence and towards integration with Western political–military–and economic structures. Moscow kept up its verbal assault on the Georgian provisional government December 3–condemning Tbilisi for not taking steps to arrest visiting Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky–who is wanted in Russia. Berezovsky–who lives in exile in Britain–jetted to Tbilisi on December 3 to supposedly visit a friend.
