Georgia’s government will continue its efforts to peacefully settle the conflict with Russia, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said on Thursday, speaking at the international security and defense conference in Batumi.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

"Georgia is interested in peaceful settlement of the conflict with Russia," the government’s press service quoted Kvirikashvili as saying. Tbilisi "will continue its efforts on peaceful settlement of the conflict with Russia in order to make possible peaceful de-occupation of Georgia’s territories on the basis of generally accepted international principles and involvement of the global community," the prime minister said.

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili said, for his part, addressing the forum’s participants, that "Russia has been trying to put pressure on Georgia since the 1990s." The head of state stressed that Tbilisi "conducted a policy of strategic patience" in its relations with Moscow and strived "to prevent new conflicts with Russia."