Russian Foreign Minister Comments on Abkhazia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Sofia on December 7 that ?artificially pushing the issue of determining Abkhazia?s status will be fruitless.?

He said that Russia expects ?sequential steps,? first and foremost in the economic field, from both Tbilisi and Sokhumi.

?The autonomous status of Adjara, which was actually canceled, does not fuel trust within the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian relations,? the Russian Foreign Minister said.