The parties remain at their previous positions on Abkhazia and South Ossetia
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Thursday on the sidelines of the 74th session of the UN General Assembly with Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani. This is stated in the message of the Russian diplomatic department.
“During the conversation, topical issues on the bilateral agenda were discussed. An exchange of views on regional security problems also took place,” the Foreign Ministry has noted.
According to the ministry, the meeting was organized with the assistance of Switzerland, which in the absence of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Tbilisi represents the interests of these countries.
The meeting of the foreign ministers was held for the first time since 2008, when, after Russia`s recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations with Moscow. Since then, the only direct dialogue between officials of the two states was the format Karasin - Abashidze, created in 2012.
In turn, Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said that at the meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in New York on Thursday, he and his Russian counterpart remained in their positions regarding the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
“Of course, I had no expectations that after an 11-year pause of direct contacts there would be a breakthrough. But this is a process, and it is important that this meeting has become part of this process. We remain in our positions; they remain in theirs But I think that the dialogue in this format was important. Let's see if this meeting will bring any results, "Zalkaliani said.
According to him, after the meeting with Lavrov it was not envisaged to create any new formats of negotiations between the two countries.
"The relations between the two countries have negotiation formats in Geneva and Prague, and the creation of other formats is not provided. At the meeting, we did not discuss the issue of a new meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister," Zalkaliani said.
The meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Georgia and Russia, according to media reports, was being held for 40 minutes.
