Geneva - Russia and Georgia agreed to hold a security
meeting in the disputed region of Abkhazia later this month, at talks
in Geneva on Wednesday.
The two countries, who went to war in August 2008 over the
breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia concluded Wednesday the
sixth round of ongoing negotiations, and also agreed to resume talks
in the autumn.
The negotiations also included representatives from the two
breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
The sides agreed to hold a first meeting of one of the so-called
'joint incident prevention and response mechanisms' in Gali, in the
area under Abkhaz control, on July 14.
They also said the other mechanism for South Ossetia should meet
soon as well, having met only twice since the system was created in
February.
The next round of the negotiations would take place in Geneva on
September 17.
The negotiations are chaired by the European Union, the United
Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE).
Both the UN and the OSCE have lost their mandates to operate
missions in the region in recent days, following Russian vetoes in
both organizations, leaving only the EU mission to continue
monitoring work.
The OSCE mission's future was still under discussion in Vienna,
where the organisation is based.
Russian officials have tied the missions to a greater role for the
de facto governments in the breakaway territories.
Moscow recognized the regions as independent states after the
August war, but has not managed to garner much international support
for their new status. Russia and Georgia have broken off direct
diplomatic ties, which are now handled through Switzerland.
The US has also participated in the talks, which first
took place in October at the UN's Geneva office.
The talks have yielded few practical results. They are mainly
aimed at reducing security incidents along the de-facto border areas
and solving humanitarian issues.
On the second front, the chairs announced that there had been an
agreement to carry out a joint assessment of the rehabilitation needs
of the water supply system in the area.
Pierre Morel, the EU chair, admitted that the talks, as usual, had
been 'difficult' at times.
Russia has also enraged Georgia this week by conducting military
exercises in the Caucasus with some 8,500 troops, the largest such
operation since the war.
However, Grigory Karasin, a Russian deputy foreign minister, told
reporters after the talks that he expected that the 'summer should be
quiet' in the region.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story