Azernews.Az

By Sabina Idayatova

Purely bilateral issues will be discussed at a meeting between Georgian Prime Minister's special representative for Russian affairs Zurab Abashidze and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigori Karasin to be held in Geneva on Friday.

The status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- Georgia's rebel regions where an armed conflict in 2008 led to the severing of ties between Moscow and Tbilisi -- will not be raised at the meeting, which takes place without international mediators, Karasin told RIA Novosti news agency by telephone from Geneva, Azerbaijani news agency Trend reported.

"At our meeting with Mr. Abashidze...purely bilateral issues will be discussed, there are many of them, and gleams [of hope] and good opportunities may appear. We have no intention to touch upon issues regarding Abkhazia and South Ossetia without the participation of the Abkhazians and Ossetians proper. This is Russia's position of principle. We will not back down from it," Karasin said.

According to Karasin, the Russian-Georgian relations are deadlocked now and "the culprit of this situation is obvious to everybody".

"This is the man who made the decision about the aggression against South Ossetia in 2008, and now our common task with the new Georgian government is to get Russian-Georgian relations out of this deadlock," Karasin stated. "It is necessary to discuss whether or not we have, in the absence of diplomatic relations, the opportunity to develop some contacts, trade, consider the transport sector. It is time to discuss the opportunities that exist without detriment to the political positions and to find appropriate solutions to offer them to our leadership."

Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili appointed Abashidze, a political analyst and diplomat, as special envoy in charge of settling Georgia's strained relations with Russia in October. Abashidze himself called this appointment an indication of the Georgian government`s readiness to create a new, independent channel of a relationship with Russia.

Abashidze has said Friday's meeting will be of "technical nature".

"Issues relating to the format, frequency and readiness to hold meetings at a new level will be discussed during the meeting," he said.

Meanwhile, the 22nd two-day round of Geneva talks aiming to prevent tension in the Caucasus region has drawn to a close. Deputy FM Karasin, who attended the negotiations, said no fresh ideas were expressed by the team led by Deputy Foreign Minister Nikoloz Vashakidze, the new head of the Georgian delegation.

"I hope that some time is needed for the new Georgian team to get accustomed to the new Geneva discussions and counter-arguments by our Abkhaz and South Ossetian partners," Karasin said. According to him, the parties faced organizational issues related to the unwillingness of Abkhazian and South Ossetian representatives to discuss the issues of refugees and displaced persons."

"This decision is due to the fact that Georgia has been introducing a special resolution on these issues to the United Nations for quite a few years, while Abkhazian and South Ossetian representatives are not allowed to participate in discussions. Thus, there is de facto discrimination, so, in principle, they do not take part in discussing these issues in Geneva," he added.

The meeting participants decided to schedule the next, 23rd round of Geneva discussions for late March 2013.

Georgian Deputy State Minister for Reintegration Ketevan Tsikhelashvili called fruitless the latest Geneva talks, saying that the Georgian side did not receive specific answers to the questions from the Russian, Abkhazian and South Ossetian representatives.

"Members of the Russian, South Ossetian and Abkhazian sides left the negotiations, so we did not have the opportunity to ask specific questions concerning natural gas supply to the population of Akhalgori region (South Ossetia), free movement of citizens across administrative borders, and return of refugees to their homes," Tsikhelashvili said on Thursday, News Georgia reported.

Geneva discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia have been held since October 2008 on the basis of the agreements reached after the armed conflict in South Ossetia in August 2008. Delegations of Georgia, Russia, the U.S., the Abkhazia and South Ossetia rebel regions, as well as representatives from the EU, the UN and the OSCE have attended the meetings on equal basis. Today, it is the only interactive format for the representatives of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Georgia.

Diplomatic relations between Georgia and Russia were established on July 1, 1992 after gaining independence from the former Soviet Union. Tensions between the two neighbors rose in August 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over Abkhazia and South Ossetia and later recognized the breakaway regions. In response, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow and announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.

Georgia and the vast majority of other countries do not recognize Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence and officially consider them as sovereign territory of the Georgian state.