Interfax News Agency
Russia & CIS Military Newswire
August 4, 2006 Friday 2:52 PM MSK

Breakaway republics should hold referenda after refugees return –
Chubinishvili

MOSCOW Aug 4

Abkhazia and South Ossetia should hold referenda on their
self-determination only after Georgian refugees have returned there,
Georgian Ambassador to Russia Irakli Chubinishvili said.

"We have nothing against the referenda, but one has to understand
that over 300,000 Georgians have been driven out of Abkhazia,"
Chubinishvili told a news conference in Moscow on Friday.

"Let them return to their homes and then hold any referendum you
like, and the same goes for South Ossetia," he said.

"We want refugees of all nationalities: Ossetians, Abkhaz, Greeks,
Georgians, Russians and Armenians to return and restore the status
quo of the population which existed before the conflict," he said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress