President of Georgia, Giorgi
Margvelashvili, stated about a necessity of precise determination of the
content of the format of talks between
Georgian Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Relation with RF Zurab
Abashidze and Deputy Foreign Minister of RF Grigory Karasin.
"We consider that a content of format
of Abashidze-Karasin talks must be determined precisely. Mutually-
coordinated work of the Geneva
International Discussions and Abashidze-Karasin talks must be carried out
through the Foreign Ministry", reads the ministry statement,
disseminated on Thursday, February
19. As official representative of MFA of
RF Alexander Lukashevich stated on Thursday, the next meeting of Georgian Prime
Minister's Special Representative for relations with RF Zurab Abashidze and
Deputy Foreign Minister of RF Grigory
Karasin will be held on February 28 in Prague.
The last round of Abashidze-Karasin talks
was held in Prague on October 16 of the last year. The sides failed to make an
arrangement on a date of the next talks as it had been done at the
previous meetings. Abashidze said that
the last talks were the most complicated and sharp on the background of signing
of the Moscow-Sokhumi treaty "on alliance and strategic partnership".
"Georgia tries to create an environment, promoting relaxation of the situation and appearance at least any
positive element in Georgian-Russian relations, despite the fact that Russian
Federation has occupied Georgian territories and made steps towards their
annexation", President stressed,
noting that Abashidze-Karasin meetings served the aim of relaxation of the
situation.
Moscow had recognized unilaterally
independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia after the war in August 2008. In
response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Russia. Representatives
of the new government, who came to power according to results of 2012
parliamentary elections, named normalization of relations with Russia to be one
of the main priorities of the country's foreign policy, but not at expense of
the country's territorial integrity.
Geneva discussions have been held since
October 2008 on the basis of arrangements that were reached with mediation of
EU, UN and OSCE after the war in August
2008 in Georgia.