Georgian Envoy on Saakashvili-Medvedev Talks
Georgian Ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili said that the meeting between the Georgian and Russian presidents, Mikheil Saakashvili and Dimitri Medvedev, respectively, had yielded no results. The Russian side, however, he said, had expressed a desire to continue top level dialogue on the complicated situation in Abkhazia.
“President Medvedev expressed a desire to discuss many issues, including this one, in another longer and more seriously prepared meeting, because a half hour format does not afford the opportunity to resolve these issues,” Kitsmarishvili told the Georgian Public Broadcaster in St. Petersburg on June 7.
“We have not achieved any results so far. Our position is that we are not satisfied with what is happening in Abkhazia.”
Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that Russia had no plan to immediately withdraw its railway troops from Abkhazia.
“They will leave as soon as they complete their work. It will not take more than two months,” he said.
Russia sent railway troops to Abkhazia in late May to repair the region’s railway infrastructure. The Russian side has explained that the move was purely humanitarian and had no military purpose, as claimed by Tbilisi.
