Russian Minister: Abkhaz Railway Talks are ‘Hard’

Officials from Georgia, Russia and breakaway Abkhazia will meet in the unrecognized republic on July 1 to discuss rehabilitation of the Russian-Georgian railway via Abkhazia, RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin as saying on June 21.

He said that talks over reopening the Abkhaz railway are “hard.” Georgian and Russian officials, with the participation of the Abkhaz side, launched negotiations over this issue in Moscow on June 15.

“The sides should make a decision about the timeframe, conditions and members of [the group] which will be engaged in rehabilitation works before July 15,” Igor Levitin said.

Russian Minister Levitin, who currently co-chairs the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental commission, said that he has proposed to Georgian co-chairman Kakha Bendukidze, the State Minister for Economic Reforms, to hold a special session of this commission in Tbilisi to discuss the Abkhaz railway.

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