UNITED NATIONS, May 19 (RIA Novosti) - The UN General Secretary has submitted a draft report on the Caucasus region which makes no mention of Georgia's sovereignty over its former republic of Abkhazia, a spokesman for Russia's permanent representative said.
Ruslan Bakhtin confirmed that Russia had received the delayed report, which Abkhazia cited as a reason for pulling out of talks in Geneva, aimed at trying to reduce tension in the regions following a brief conflict between Russia and Georgia. Bakhtin said the report was "being examined."
The Geneva talks, which started on Monday with delegations from South Ossetia and Russia walking out in support of Abkhazia, are supported by the UN, the EU and the OSCE and involve Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Abkhazia withdrew from the talks on Saturday over delays in receiving the UN's annual report on the region. Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said Abkhazia would not cooperate with the EU or even with the UN if they "are biased against the republic."
He said, however, that the delegation would attend the talks if the issue was resolved satisfactorily at the UN.
The Russian foreign minister said Monday that the Russian delegation had taken a break until Tuesday in the hope of hearing from the UN secretary general.
Sergei Lavrov said that "our UN colleagues have promised us that the report [by the UN secretary general] will be released early tomorrow."
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the U.S. expressed the country's regret at the walkout by Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, describing it as a "coordinated effort to undermine the Geneva talks."
"We hope the Russian delegation and South Ossetian and Abkhaz participants will attend the talks when they reconvene on May 19," he said.
Following the August 2008 conflict, Russia recognized both Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
Russia and the two republics signed border protection agreements in late April and Russian border guards have been deployed along the Abkhazia and South Ossetian borders since May 2.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Bokeriya said Monday that Tbilisi hoped international organizations would pressurize Russia to continue its participation in the Geneva talks.
"This is outrageous and not only for Georgia. Despite this shameful behavior, we hope the pressure of international organizations will make Russia change its position and the Geneva process will continue," he said.
