On November 1, a team from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union of Belarus and Russia met with Aslan Bzhania, the de-facto leader of separatist Abkhazia, in Abkhazia under the leadership of Artem Turov, a member of the Russian Parliament, Bzhania's Press Office reported.

The de-facto Abkhaz leader stressed the need to deepen connections at the level of the legislative or executive branches of government and various state administration institutions during the meeting. He expressed optimism that these meetings would strengthen the goodwill between the peoples of Abkhazia, Russia, and Belarus.

He added: "Furthering business ties between Belarus and Abkhazia is crucial." Bzhania stated, "We feel that economic development concerns are extremely essential to us. Recently, the President of Belarus visited us. We detailed some actions and hope there will be more, too."

Turov praised Bzhania for their productive conversation after the group met with Lasha Ashuba, the de-facto Parliament Speaker. They addressed various topics in which Russia, Belarus, and Abkhazia are interested.

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