Putin says Russia is ready to mend relations with Georgia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was ready to restore relations with ex-Soviet Georgia which chilled after their five-day war in August 2008. Russia is also ready to cancel visa requirements for Georgian nationals, Putin told his annual news conference. Referring to his political foe Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia during the war, Putin said the appointment of the latter as a regional governor in Ukraine was "a spit in the face of the Ukrainian people". (Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, Alexander Winning and Christian Lowe; writing by Dmitry Solovyov; editing by Maria Kiselyova)