MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/. The work on the Russian-Abkhazian agreement on alliance and integration continues and some disputable issues are settled through negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich said on Thursday.

Replying to a question of a Georgian journalist, saying Sukhum has allegedly criticised the draft agreement, Lukashevich said he had not heard such statements from the Abkhazian side.

“The document we are developing continues our mutual relations’ strengthening practice at the state level,” the diplomat said. This document complies with international practice, the more so that Russia ensures security of the Republic of Abkhazia under previously concluded agreements.

“We have a backlog of outstanding issues to settle for the sake of strengthening our relations, and I see no contradictions here,” he said. “And it is no secret that this complex document requires negotiating solutions, which is in conformity with the traditional interstate relations procedures.”

Lukashevich said the new Russian-Abkhazian agreement will not affect the formats of negotiations on the situation in Transcaucasia. “I see no relation whatsoever between the work on this bilateral document, Geneva talks on Transcaucasia and dialogue between Russian State Secretary, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Georgian president’s special envoy Zurab Abashidze, the more so that they have recently met in Prague to discuss this issue,” Lukashevich said.