EU Ambassadors to Visit Abkhazia

Twelve diplomats from EU-member states accredited in Tbilisi will visit breakaway Abkhazia on May 30-31.

Ambassadors of France, Netherlands, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Sweden, as well as diplomats from the German, Polish and Estonian embassies plan talks with the Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, as well as with breakaway region’s Prime Minister Alexander Ankvab and Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba. Trip to Gagra and Gali is also planned during the visit, according to the French embassy in Tbilisi.

The Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported that EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, planned to visit Sokhumi on June 6.

Abkhaz leader, Sergey Bagapsh, said on May 29 that he plans to tell the EU diplomats that Sokhumi’s stance over resumption of talks with the Georgian side remained unchanged.

“For resumption of the negotiating process, Georgia should withdraw troops from the upper Kodori Gorge and sign treaty on non-use of force,” Apsnipress reported quoting Bagapsh as saying.

Temur Iakobashvili, the Georgian state minister for reintegration, said on May 28 that Georgia would sing treaty on non-use of force only if the process of return of internally displaced persons and refugees would launch.

The Abkhaz leader also criticized Tbilisi’s attempts to replace the current Russian-led peacekeeping operation in the conflict zone with the international one and warn that withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers might lead to resumption of hostilities.