Abkhazia set for recognition agreement

SUKHUMI, Georgia, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Officials in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia say they will officially recognize the province of Kosovo if leaders there recognize their independence.

Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba said if Kosovar leaders officially recognize Abkhazia's independence from Georgia, his fellow officials will respond in kind, the Serbian news agency Tanjug reported Friday.

Yet Shamba did say Kosovar officials would unlikely be receptive to such an offer due to their reliance on the United States and NATO.

Abkhazia President Sergei Bagapsh said Thursday that his republic was determined to earn its recognized independence from Georgia no matter what occurs with Kosovo's fight with Serbia, Tanjug reported.

"We said when the Kosovo process began that, regardless of how it ended, whether it was recognized or not, we would not give up on our path to independence," the president said.

Meanwhile, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity has voiced his support for Serbia in the ongoing conflict.

"Kosovo is a product of aggression and the breakup of a well-formed European state—Serbia," Kokoity said.