TBILISI. June 9 (Interfax) - The authorities in Tbilisi will never sign a non-use of force agreement with Abkhazia and South Ossetia because Georgia views the republics as its occupied territories, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria said.
Georgia, however, will be ready to sign such an accord with Russia if it includes "a point demanding the withdrawal of Russian forces from the occupied territories," Bokeria told journalists after the 11th round of the Geneva-based consultations on security in the Caucasus.
"But we will never sign such an agreement with Sukhumi and Tskhinvali," he said.
At the meeting in Geneva on June 8, delegations representing Georgia, Russia, the U.S., Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as well as officials of the EU, the UN and the OSCE again failed to reach an agreement to start drafting a document with non-use of force guarantees.
Russia insists that an accord banning the use of force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be drafted.
Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, for their part, refused to discuss economic and humanitarian issues until a non-use of force agreement was signed.
The next round of the Geneva-based talks is expected to take place at the end of July.