Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin with Abkhazia’s de facto Foreign Minister Oleg Bartsits and Konstantin Kochiev, an adviser to the de facto president of South Ossetia, in Moscow on September 23. The meeting preparations for the next round of the Geneva format, scheduled for November 10-11, as well as security and humanitarian issues.

The Russian Foreign Ministry that the three sides considered lasting security in Abkhazia and South Ossetia a priority and maintained that this would require legally binding guarantees from Tbilisi not to use force against the two regions. They also urged the delimitation and subsequent demarcation of what they described as the Georgian-Abkhaz and Georgian-South Ossetian state borders. The Abkhaz side also raised the functioning of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, while the participants discussed humanitarian matters and other issues expected to feature in the November Geneva meeting.

The Geneva International Discussions, co-chaired by the European Union, United Nations and OSCE, are the main international format addressing the security and humanitarian consequences of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war. The next round will take place more than three months after the previous meeting, held in Geneva on June 30-July 1.

The demand for a legally binding non-use-of-force agreement has been raised repeatedly by Moscow and the de facto authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia has previously reiterated its commitment to the peaceful resolution of the conflicts and has called for Russia to meet its obligations under the 2008 ceasefire agreement. In September, Georgian officials again identified the Geneva discussions as the principal international format for addressing the conflicts.