For the first time following the diplomat's return to Tbilisi, Vyacheslav Kovalenko and Gela Bezhuashvili are discussing the complex relations between the two former Soviet nations and ways of resuming cooperation, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.
Kovalenko was appointed ambassador to Georgia in July 2006 but he had not even presented his credentials to the Georgian president when the already strained bilateral relations hit their lowest point over Georgia's brief arrest of four Russian officers on espionage charges.
Russia responded by suspending travel and mail links with the small Caucasus nation of five million, clamped down on Georgians working in Russia and recalled the ambassador and embassy staff with their families.
A Georgian Foreign Ministry spokesman said last week that Tbilisi had received a go-ahead message from Moscow through diplomatic channels following Georgia's two proposals to start negotiations on restoring air links, which have been tentatively set for February 5-6.
Ironically, Kovalenko, who arrived in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, by plane on his return trip to Tbilisi, had to complete the final leg of his journey to neighboring Georgia by land because of the flight embargo.
