Russia rejects talking Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia

MOSCOW

Russian FM Lavrov (R) shows the way to Ossetian FM Sanakoyev. EPA photo

Russia will not conduct talks with Georgia on the future of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his South Ossetian counterpart David Sanakoyev yesterday.

“We will not conduct any talks on the future of Abkhazia and South Ossetia either with Georgia or any other country, because these republics’ future has been decided by their people who supported their independence,” Russian Itar-Tass news agency quoted Lavrov as saying. Moscow and Tbilisi broke diplomatic ties after Georgian forces were routed in five days in August 2008 in a war that ended with Russia recognizing South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

Lavrov also expressed the hope that after the recent elections, Georgia’s ties with its neighbors would be normalized. Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the Georgian Dream coalition won the nation’s Oct. 1 parliamentary elections.