Russia lifts ban on Abkhazia ahead of its demand for international recognition
Russia has lifted a ban on trade and economic, financial, transport and other ties with Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced Thursday.
(KosovoCompromise Staff) Friday, March 07, 2008
The move comes the day after South Ossetia, another Georgian breakaway region, formally asked for international recognition of its unilateral secession, which it says is based on the Kosovo precedent.
Abkhazia was due to make its own formal demand for international recognition on Friday.
"The cancellation of sanctions against Abkhazia complies with the generally-established international principle of step-by-step relaxation and annulment of imposed measures, when the parties under these measures fulfill the corresponding demands of the international community," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry has sent an official note to the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), informing it of the Russian withdrawal from the sanctions regime.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also announced that its note to the CIS Executive Committee conveys a proposal to other CIS countries "to take similar steps and withdraw from the regime of restrictions with regards to Abkhazia."
On February 16, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it will take into account the proclamation of Kosovo's independence in its policy toward Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Tbilisi says gained support from Moscow.
