By empty (6/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Abkhazia objects to linking the resumption of railroad traffic with the settlement of political problems, president of the unrecognized republic Sergei Bagapsh told Heidi Tagliavini, special representative of the UN Secretary General, on Monday. \"Abkhazia does not accept any preliminary conditions. The Sochi agreement that Georgia and Russia signed in March 2003 stipulates the resumption of railroad traffic,\" the presidential information department quoted Bagapsh as saying.

By empty (6/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The redeployment of Russian military equipment from Georgia to the Russian Defence Ministry’s base in Armenia will not change the balance of forces in the Karabakh conflict zone and will not hamper the quest for the ways of peaceful settlement. Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Committee for International Relations of the State Duma lower house of parliament, expressed his confidence in this on Monday. He said, the Russian military bases are being speedily removed from the Georgian territory.

By empty (6/27/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian and his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mamedyarov held brief talks in Brussels on a Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gamlet Gasparian told Interfax on Monday. \"The Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers held a 20-minute meeting in Brussels,\" Gasparian said. The talks were held within the framework of a forum on Iraq, he said.