Abkhazian leader Sergei Bagapsh will pay his first post-inauguration visit to Russia as the head of state.

Below is an article published by Itar Tass:

Abkhazian leader SergeI Bagapsh will pay his first post-inauguration visit to Russia as the head of state, the Russian Foreign Ministry's special envoy Dmitry Tarabrin said at the constituent conference of the Russian-Abkhazian Business Council on Thursday.

“After the inauguration on February 12 Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh will pay his first visit to Russia and we are preparing for it,” Tarabrin said.

According to the diplomat, setting up the joint business center with Abhazia “is not simply necessary, but also well-timed.”

“Prosperity and peace in the Caucasus is an interest of Russia’s national security,” he said. “Providing stability in the region and preventing Tbilisi's new risky adventures and aggressive plans is an important condition for economic partnership by Moscow with both Sukhum and Tskhinval,” he said.

Having noted that “with the recognition of their independence Abkhazia and South Ossetia have become equitable partners of Russia in international relations” Tarabrin said Russia planned to put make a comprehensive approach to interaction with the newly-independent countries.

In particular, he said the Russian Foreign Ministry together with other agencies was drafting some 60 industrial agreements with the two republics.

The Russian senior diplomat is sure that “Moscow’s policy of strengthening stability in the Caucasus will force the West and Georgia to reconsider their deadlock-like stances in handling the region’s problems.”

The Georgian leaders' strategy of reclaiming “occupied territories” through economic integration, Tarabrin said, was “anti-Russian and anti-Abkhazian.”

“All this is being done not on Georgia’s money,” he said. “Attempts to achieve the return of Abkhazia and South Ossetia are being exerted for the sake of Georgia's integration with the European Union,” he said.