Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with the leader of Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia, Alekandr Ankvab, to discuss “further developing cooperation.”
The Kremlin said that at the start of the meeting in Moscow on March 12, Putin told Ankvab he wanted to “look into tasks which we can jointly achieve in the nearest future.”
Ankvab thanked Putin for supporting Abkhazia.
After its brief war with Georgia in August 2008, Moscow recognized Abkhazia and another breakaway Georgian republic, South Ossetia, as independent states.
Georgia considers the two regions as integral parts of its territory.
Georgia’s Foreign Minister Maya Panjikidze denounced the meeting before it took place, saying “any step directed against Georgia’s territorial integrity deserves our serious concerns and criticism.”