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Moscow to support resuming railway traffic between Abkhazia and Georgia — Lavrov

Russia side is ready for such consultations, however, the final decision should be made by the direct participants in the process — Abkhazia and Georgia, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says

© ITAR-TASS/Vitaly Belousov

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Normal border crossing regime between S.Ossetia, Georgia possible under treaty — minister

MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Moscow will support resuming railway traffic between Sukhum and Tbilisi, but the final decision should be made in Georgia and Abkhazia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday after talks with his Abkhazian counterpart Vyacheslav Chirikba.

"The Russian side is ready for such consultations, considering that the Russian Railways company is operating part of the Abkhazian railroad in accordance with inter-state agreements," Lavrov said. "However, the final decision should be made by the direct participants in the process — Abkhazia and Georgia," he added. "Armenia is interested in this as well," the minister noted.

Talking about ensuring control over border between Russia and Abkhazia, Chirikba said that it is important to ease border crossing between the two countries. "Our aim is to ensure the most convenient regime of border crossing," Chirikba said. "We are not talking about opening the border, we need to make it transparent, so that people can freely cross the border on foot or by car," the minister added.

"This process cannot move forward without simultaneously strengthening the Abkhazian-Georgian border along the Ingur River," Chirikba said.

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Sergey Lavrov Georgia Transport Abkhazia

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