By IRNA,
Berlin : German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier here Friday warned of the unresolved Georgian crisis in the wake of the unilateral independence declaration of Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Talking to Berlin-based foreign journalists at the German Foreign Ministry, Steinmeier said, “I am convinced that the (Georgian) crisis has not ended. The conflict continues to swell because of the one- sided recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.” He urged the need to restore “stability in the unresolved conflict” in a bid to avoid new military confrontations in Georgia.
Steinmeier reiterated the recent Georgian-Russian war had the “risk potential to spread to other parts of the Caucasus.” Russia and Georgia on Thursday nearly sealed an agreement at internationally mediated talks in Geneva on a mechanism for preventing and resolving continuing violence in and around South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
But objections by the Russian-supported regions dealt reportedly a blow to a final accord.
The next round of negotiations, geared at improving security and assisting those displaced by the Russian-Georgian war in August, is slated for the middle of February.