Western partners advise Georgia to continue informal dialog with Russia, says envoy

TBILISI, May 20. /TASS/. Western partners advise Georgia to continue an informal dialog with Russia, Georgian prime minister’s special representative for relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze told reporters on Wednesday. He said his meetings with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, currently under way in Prague, were not official negotiations, but "an informal dialogue between Georgia and Russia". "Georgia’s Western partners advise to continue this informal dialogue, he said, noting that he considered it necessary "to maintain this means of communication between Georgia and Russia" no matter who the participants will be. Relations between Russia and Georgia soured after August 2008 events when Georgia attacked neighbor South Ossetia, leading to Moscow's recognition of South Ossetia as an independent nation. Russia is ready to consider other North Caucasus countries’ participation in the negotiations between Grigory Karasin and Georgian Prime Minister’s envoy Zurab Abashidze, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists on Wednesday. "Talking about expanding the Karasin-Abashidze format, if our Georgian partners offer to include Abkhazia, South Ossetia or other North Caucasian countries, we are ready to consider it," Lavrov said. Abashidze-Karasin meetings became the first direct dialogue of representatives of the two states after 2008. They first met in December 2012 outside Geneva and then eight times in Prague. The next consultations are scheduled for June, Prague being the venue once again. Talks focus on trade, economic and cultural cooperation among other topical issues. Read more