TBILISI. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia has agreed to prolong the mandate of the CIS collective peacekeeping forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone in response to Russia's support for a UN-sponsored document on division of powers between Georgia and Abkhazia, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze told national radio on Monday.
Commenting on the UN Security Council's resolution on the situation in the conflict zone, the president called it "the most principal and tough of all documents approved by the UN Security Council on the settlement in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone."
The president said that "the resolution has absolutely new and extremely important moments." Among them is the UN stance in the division of powers between the conflicting parties.
"The UN Security Council insistently called on the Abkhaz party to receive the document, discuss it and after that immediately get down to constructive negotiations on the problem," Shevardnadze added.
Commenting on the current state of Georgian-Russian relations, the president stressed that "positive tendencies in the relations started to emerge after the November meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the CIS summit in Moscow."