Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Valeri Loshchinin, who is also the Russian President’s special envoy for Abkhaz conflict settlement, said in an interview to the daily Rosiiskaia Gazeta (Russian Newspaper), that lifting of the economic sanctions on Abkhazia would “create favorable conditions for conflict resolution.”
The economic sanctions were imposed on breakaway Abkhazia under the resolution of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 1996.
“The recent statements of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that Tbilisi would not favor Abkhazia’s isolation, increase our hopes that the new leadership of Georgia would start consideration of lifting sanctions on Abkhazia,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister said.
Georgian President is expected to visit Moscow and hold talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on February 15.