Abkhazia has urged the UN Security Council to increase its role in the search for a settlement in the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia, a letter by the breakaway republic\'s foreign minister Sergei Shamba says. The letter has been sent to the UN Security Council President Adamantos Vassilakis. Abkhazia also urged the UN Security Council \"to promote more actively and productively the Georgian-Abkhazian peace process under the aegis of the UN.\" Shamba said that the sanctions regime, affecting thousands of civilians in Abkhazia, is being worsened even further by regular seizures of the few merchant ships carrying peaceful cargo to Abkhazia. The sanctions regime \"is absolutely unacceptable\" in the context of the search for a settlement and efforts to build up trust and develop peace initiatives, the letter says. (Interfax)