MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. The Geneva Discussions format for talks on security and stability in the South Caucasus region is gradually returning to normal, Denis Gonchar, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Fourth CIS Department, said in an interview with TASS.

"We can say, following the July 11-12 round of the Geneva Discussions, that work on this negotiation platform is gradually returning to normal. An agreement was reached to hold the next round in December 2023 and the dates for preliminary visits by the EU, OSCE and UN co-chairpersons to Moscow and other capitals were announced. A lack of regular dialogue is in no one’s interests," Gonchar said, adding that he expected the talks’ agenda to be preserved and meetings to take place on a regular basis.

According to the diplomat, the parties agreed at the July meeting to avoid tensions along the Georgia-Abkhazia and Georgia-South Ossetia borders, which could destabilize the situation in the region. "Together with our Abkhazian and South Ossetian partners, Russia continues to promote the main priority of the discussions, which is to ensure lasting security for Abkhazia and South Ossetia by paving the way for Tbilisi to conclude a legally binding agreement with Sukhum and Tskhinval on the non-use of force, as well as through the launch of the delimitation process on the Georgia-Abkhazia and Georgia-South Ossetia borders, and their subsequent demarcation," the diplomat noted.

"We are confident that without achieving these goals, it is impossible to expect sustainable peace and security to be established in the South Caucasus," Gonchar concluded.