SUKHUMI. June 27 (Interfax-AVN) - President of the self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh has said that he did not discuss plans to divide Abkhazia into zones of influence with the Russian authorities in Moscow.
"I learnt about the plans to divide Abkhazia into zones of influence from the newspaper today. This is insanity. I did not discuss these plans with anyone in Moscow," Bagapsh told Interfax on Friday.
"Newspaper allegations that this plan was discussed at a meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has nothing to do with the reality. We did not even approach this topic at the meeting," the Abkhaz president said.
"I would like to say that if there are such plans, we will not discuss them with anyone. We will not give away a single square meter of our territory," Bagapsh said.
The Kommersant newspaper reported on Friday that Tbilisi proposed a package of measures "stipulating the division of Abkhazia into responsibility zones - a large Russian and a small Georgian zone - with the formal restoration of Georgia's sovereignty" all over the territory of the breakaway republic.