Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

U.S. envoy arrives in Abkhazia

|
|
 
  
Published: May 11, 2008 at 1:23 AM

SUKHUMI, Georgia, May 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. envoy arrived Saturday in the breakaway region of Abkhazia in Georgia in an effort to find a peaceful solution to the impasse there.

Matthew Bryza, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, met with Sergei Bagapsh, the president of Abkhazia, and Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba, RIA Novosti reported.

Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia soon after the collapse of the Soviet Union. But it has not been recognized by any country, although the Georgian government accuses Russia of backing nationalists in Abkhazia and its other breakaway region, South Ossetia, in order to annex them, the Russian news agency noted.

The Russian government recently increased the size of its military contingent in Abkhazia from 2,000 to 3,000. Georgia has called for an international peacekeeping force to replace the Russians.

Topics: Matthew Bryza, Sergei Bagapsh
© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Time to load up on beer, milk, bread and beer, north Atlanta is in for massive blizzard with up...
Bill would force teachers to comply with FCC regulations. in related news, Miss Lipshiatz is about...
When you yell "bingo," you better be damn sure you have bingo. Cause if you don't, we will find...
Trading crack for a lapdance, yelling racial slurs, assaulting police, spitting blood, and beating...
History will remember George H.W. Bush for his part in the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin...
And now, pictures of dogs underwater