9-10-08, 9:04 am

Moscow, Sep 9 (Prensa Latina) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov negotiated today with representatives from Abkhazia and South Ossetia to establish relations on a diplomatic level.

The first meeting of this kind will formalize links between Moscow, Sukhumi and Tskhinvali after their independence was recognized by the Kremlin last August 26.

Hours before this report, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said in a press conference that Russia has a list of pertinent documents regarding its recognition.

The foreign ministers of the three countries will also analyze a package of agreements on tripartite friendship, cooperation and mutual aid.

Medvedev specified they will address economic, humanitarian and military collaboration, the latter raising suspicions in analysts over possible bases in the rebel territories.

Experts at the Russian Center for Political Analysis are certain a consensus will be reached on cooperation in a strategic defense and regional security alliance, which is critical for Moscow.

Medvedev said other nations have delayed in recognizing Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, but nevertheless international debate on their future status will continue in Geneva October 15.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia demand world recognition of their sovereignty, declared in 1992, after Georgia invaded Ossetian territory last August.

The former's army practically destroyed Tskhinvali with indiscriminate bombing, and 500 civilian deaths are estimated among the Ossetian population.

From Prensa Latina