SUKHUMI. May 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Abkhazia's priorities are membership of the Commonwealth of Independent States and further rapprochement with Russia, Sergei Bagapsh, president of the breakaway republic, said.
"We'll raise the issue of Abkhazia's membership of the CIS before the end of the year, I think," Bagapsh told Interfax on Thursday.
"Abkhazia's further political and economic rapprochement with Russia is the central issue. We remain adherent to our proposals on Abkhazia's associated membership of Russia," he said.
Concerning Georgia's possible withdrawal from the CIS, Bagapsh said, "I'm convinced this will not affect the peacekeeping operation in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone. "If Georgia raises the issue of the Russian peacekeepers' removal from Georgia, we'll ask the Russian peacekeepers, the sole guarantors of regional stability, to stay in Abkhazia and continue performing their mission," the Abkhaz president said.
Asked to comment on the Georgian military base near Senaki, Bagapsh said, "We, of course, are closely following the situation and the location of Georgian troops near our borders." "We must be prepared for any turns, taking the current political situation in Georgia into account," he said.