A delegation of Belarusian MPs visited on Thursday Georgia's borders with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and talked with displaced people.

The delegation intended to study the situation on the ground in order to better consider Abkhazia and South Ossetia's request for Minsk to recognize their independence.

"In a civilized world such things should not happen," parliamentary national security chairman Viktor Guminsky told Georgia's Rustavi-2 TV channel after visiting a camp for displaced people. "The conditions are terrible...We should improve their living conditions through joint efforts."

"We will provide the Belarusian people and parliament with objective information about what we have seen and heard here," he said.

Russia recognized the independence of the former Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia last August after a five-day war with Georgia over the latter, which was attacked by Tbilisi in an attempt to bring it back under central control.

Under mutual assistance treaties signed last November, Russia pledged to help South Ossetia and Abkhazia protect their borders, and the signatories granted each other the right to set up military bases in their respective territories.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia asked Belarus to recognize their independence last year. However, Belarus has so far refused to join Russia in recognizing the republics.

TBILISI, November 19