zurab_abashidze_-_grigory_karasin

Zurab Abashidze (left), the Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Russian Relations, and Gregory Karasin, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–The direct talks between Georgia and Russia have been postponed again.

Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Russian Relations, and Gregory Karasin, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia should have met on March 4-5, but postponed the meeting for March 14 on the request of Karasin.

Interpressnews now reports, quoting the PM’s office, that the meeting has been postponed again and will be held a few weeks after March 14, but the date is not yet known.

Russia and Georgia have had no diplomatic relations since they fought a brief war in 2008, but after a change of government in 2012, Tbilisi opened a direct channel with Moscow to solve economic, humanitarian and communication issues

At this sixth round, likely to be held in Prague, Abashidze and Karasin are expected to discuss the possibility of a meeting between the Georgian and Russian presidents. Vladimir Putin said at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi that he is ready to meet his Georgian counterpart, Giorgi Margvelashvili, if the latter wants.