Georgia will 'wait and see' if Putin's softer tone lasts

GENEVA (AP) - Georgia's president says she'll "wait and see" how a debate in Russia about possible new sanctions against her country pan out.

In an interview during a break from a conference she was hosting with European leaders - including European Council president Donald Tusk - at the Black Sea resort city of Batumi, Salome Zurabshvili told The Associated Press that she cautiously welcomed conciliatory comments from President Vladimir Putin as preferable to "threats."

Zurabshvili, who took office as Georgia's first woman president in December, also responded to critics in Georgia who have faulted her allegedly soft line toward Russia during a recent flare-up of tensions, saying it's the "fate of any political leader" to face opposing views.

Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in 2008, prompting a cutoff in diplomatic ties.