Russian, Georgian Lawmakers To Discuss Interparliamentary Ties In Moscow July 15 -Kosachev

Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian upper house's Foreign Affairs Committee, told Sputnik on Friday that he and his first deputy, Vladimir Dzhabarov, would hold a meeting with a delegation of Georgian lawmakers in Moscow the following week

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th July, 2019) Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian upper house's Foreign Affairs Committee, told Sputnik on Friday that he and his first deputy, Vladimir Dzhabarov, would hold a meeting with a delegation of Georgian lawmakers in Moscow the following week.

On Wednesday, Giorgi Lomia, a member of the Georgian parliament from the Alliance of Patriots opposition faction, told Sputnik that the delegation of opposition lawmakers from Georgia would arrive in Moscow on Sunday to meet with members of the Russian parliament's lower house. According to Leonid Kalashnikov, the head of the Russian lower house's Committee on the Commonwealth of Independent States' Affairs, the parties will discuss issues of bilateral political and humanitarian cooperation.

"We will meet with the Georgian delegation on Monday.

During the meeting we may discuss the current state of relations and prospects of overcoming the crisis, including via boosting the interparliamentary dialogue," Kosachev said.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi worsened in 2008 after Russia recognized the former Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states and helped to protect them from Georgian troops trying to re-establish control.

The situation escalated last month, as massive protests broke out in Tbilisi after a Russian lawmaker participating in the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy addressed the national legislature from the speaker's seat, a move that was seen as offensive. Clashes prompted Russia to stop air traffic to Georgia over security concerns.