Parliament Delays Response to Lifting Abkhaz Sanctions

The Georgian parliament decided on March 11 to back a statement condemning Russia’s lifting of sanction on Abkhazia, but delayed passing it with second and third hearings.

Lawmakers from the ruling party said that Parliament would wait for discussions in Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, on Abkhazia and South Ossetia planned for March 13. MP Kote Gabashvili, the chairman of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, said that the final text of the statement might be adjusted following the debates in the Duma.

He also said that Georgia should show restraint in its response to Russia’s decision to pull out from the 1996 CIS treaty. “Our task is not to yield to provocations,” he told Parliament.