Russia, Georgia resume security talks

Russians and Georgians on Thursday resumed a fresh round of internationally-mediated talks aimed at preventing another flare-up of violence following their brief war in August 2008, a UN spokeswoman said.

“They started work at 0800 GMT,” said Alessandra Vellucci, a UN spokeswoman.

The 14th round of talks since 2008 are taking place amid renewed tensions between the two parties, after Georgia in early December accused Russia of organising a series of explosions in recent months which left one person dead.

Mediated by the European Union, the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the talks are aimed at preventing another flare-up in violence over the Moscow-backed breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The two regions broke away from Tbilisi’s control during wars in the early 1990s after Georgia gained independence with the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

But it was after the five-day 2008 war that Moscow recognised the two regions as independent states.