MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax-AVN) -Abkhazia is ready to make return moves, if Georgian troops are withdrawn from the Kodori Gorge and then to negotiate the signing of an agreement on peace and the non-resumption of hostilities, President of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh told a news conference at Interfax in Moscow on Wednesday.
The Abkhaz leader refuted reports that some agreements between Sukhumi and Tbilisi were reached at a recent meeting with U.S. representatives and Georgia's Ambassador to the UN Irakly Alasania.
"Regretfully, the issue does not concern any agreements," Bagapsh said.
The meeting with U.S. representatives and Alasania addressed two issues: the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the Kodori Gorge and then the signing of an agreement on peace and the non-resumption of hostilities, he said.
"The Georgian side insisted that if it withdraws troops from the Kodori Gorge, Russia should withdraw its peacekeeping forces. We did not even look into this issue," Bagapsh said.
"We are ready to withdraw our troops - 1,500 - 2,000 people - deployed near the Kodori Gorge, together with all hardware, in order to ease the situation there," Bagapsh said.
"As yet only proposals were made, and we forwarded them. A peace agreement was sent to Georgia under [ex-Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgy] Khaindrava. The second proposal is today in Georgia as well. If Georgia is ready to discuss them, we will start negotiations on these issues. Probably, we are ready to adopt both documents in a package," Bagapsh said.