Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili believes Russia will have a decisive say in a solution of the long-running conflict between his country’s two South Caucasus neighbors.

“The position of Russia is the main key to the resolution of the Karabakh conflict,” Saakashvili said in an interview with Russia’s Ekho Moskvy radio station Wednesday ( in Russian, http://echo.msk.ru/programs/beseda/643488-echo).

“During all these years I have heard very optimistic statements by European diplomats that a breakthrough [in this conflict] was near in sight. But those always seemed to me to be wishful thinking. The problem is a difficult one and the main key to it is Russia,” the Georgian leader said. “There is only one recipe to solving all problems – direct negotiations of these countries conducted with the consideration of international law, including the right of people to return to the places of their former residence and respect for state sovereignty.”

Saakashvili also hailed the normalization process between Armenia and Turkey, saying that “negotiations are always good”. At the same time, he said that “all this, of course, should be coordinated with Azerbaijan”.

Armenia has insisted all along that its rapprochement with Turkey should not be linked with other factors, including progress in a separate peace process with Azerbaijan over the Karabakh conflict. The international community has by and large backed this position of Yerevan.

Saakashvili, an ally of the West, has been at loggerheads with the Kremlin leadership since the Russo-Georgian war in South Ossetia in August 2008 that led Moscow to recognize the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions, including Abkhazia.