MOSCOW. April 22 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian President Vladimir Putin explained to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili the essence of the Russian decisions in respect to Abkhazia and South Ossetia and said he was perplexed with the flight of the Georgian unmanned aircraft over the conflict zone.
Putin said this on the phone to Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday following Georgia's initiative, the Kremlin said.
"When discussing the incident of the Georgian unmanned aircraft, Putin said he was perplexed with the very fact that Georgia had conducted flights over the conflict zone with a military objective; he stressed that this contradicted the essence and spirit of the Moscow agreements on the ceasefire as of May 14, 1994, it was a destabilizing factor and has lead to escalating tensions," the Kremlin said.
In response to the address from the Georgian president, Putin "elaborated on the essence of the Russian Federation's decisions on the withdrawal from the regime of CIS sanctions in respect to Abkhazia, and also on the instructions to the government to interact with the authorities of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in trade, economic, social, scientific areas, and in the spheres of information, culture and education in order to provide for a comprehensive protection of legal interests of Russian citizens residing in these territories," the Kremlin said.
The issues of socioeconomic rehabilitation of the conflict regions have been discussed by the international community for a long time, it said. In particular, the last UN Security Council resolution No. 1808 as of April 15, 2008 directly mentions the urgent need for economic development in Abkhazia, it said.
"Putin said that Russia's steps are in the legal field and have an exclusive socioeconomic objective, and this is their fundamental difference from the politicized and illegal decisions taken by some nations on unilateral recognition of Kosovo's independence that might have created a precedent as it has been repeatedly stressed," it said.
Putin said "he hoped that Georgia would also take positive steps in order to reduce the social burden and provide for economic development of Abkhazia and South Ossetia."
"After speaking about the steps being taken in order to lift restrictions in Russian-Georgian ties [visa issues, border pass Upper Lars, problems of product access to the Russian market], Putin said he intended to continue work in order to contribute to an improvement of bilateral relations," it said.