Azernews.Az

By Nazrin Gadimova

Negotiations towards an agreement on non-use of force in the framework of the Geneva talks on Abkhazia and South Ossetia ended without result, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.

"We hoped that we would be able to accept the application of the participants of the Geneva talks on the non-use of force in support of the ​​statements that they had made on this subject. Unfortunately, this did not happen", Karasin said.

In turn, Georgia's Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani said that Georgia will not conclude the agreement on non-use of force with Abkhazia and South Ossetia because the self-proclaimed republics are "unrecognized and occupied territories."

"It is logical, since Georgia has unilaterally pledged not to use force that Russia should reciprocate. This is our principle, and we are not going to back down," Zalkaliani said.

In response to this Karasin said that Georgia should sign an agreement on non-use of force with Sukhumi (the capital of Abkhazia) and Tskhinvali (the capital of South Ossetia).

"We expected more flexibility of the Georgian representatives, referring to the recent presidential election held in Georgia, the appointment of a new prime minister and hoping that this will lead to some new approaches in the Georgian position. That did not happen, but the co-chairs of the Geneva talks will take an agreement on the text of the declaration, acceptable to everyone, on the non-use of force [between Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia] to the next meeting, to be held in Geneva on December 17-18," Karasin said after the talks.

The Geneva talks were held after the war in South Ossetia in August, 2008 based on the agreements reached with the mediation of the EU, the UN and the OSCE. Representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Russia, Georgia, the United States, the UN, the OSCE and the European Union took part in the negotiations.

Georgia and its giant northern neighbor Russia have had no diplomatic relations since their brief war in 2008. Tbilisi broke off relations with Moscow in August 2008 when Moscow crushed a Georgian assault to reassert control over two rebel regions - South Ossetia and Abkhazia - and later recognized the regions.

Georgia announced the two unrecognized republics as occupied territories in September 2008.