Georgian official says progress seen in normalization of Russia ties
The Georgian government has no illusions that the progress in relations with Russia will be reached in the near future, Georgian Prime Minister's special representative on Russia's Affairs Zurab Abashidze has said after a meeting with members of the PACE Monitoring Committee.
"We discussed Georgian-Russian relations and in particular, the issues of the dialogue initiated by Georgian Prime Minister in December last year," he said. "Our guests were interested in a stage of the process, the further plans and the date of the next meeting."
"We believe there is some progress in this issue," he said. "I mean in the trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian sphere, but there are serious problems. Time will be required to resolve them. I stressed that we have no illusions and exaggerated expectations that progress will be reached in these relations quickly. However, it should be noted that some progress is available."
Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia after their August 2008 war over the breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia lost one-fifth of its territory after the two republics broke away. Tbilisi announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.