Euronews.net, France
March 7 2008
Russia lifts trade ban on Abkhazia
Only weeks after warning that Kosovo’s independence could cause a
"terrible precedent", Moscow has lifted a trade ban on a rebel region
of Georgia. Russia says the removal of restrictions with the
breakaway Abkhazia region is not related to Kosovo, but some
commentators say the timing is not a coincidence.
Georgia is a former Soviet nation that aspires to EU and NATO
membership. Though Abkhazia has been forging ties with Russia, Moscow
has been enforcing sanctions on the region for more than ten years.
The lifting of the trade ban comes as Washington makes a mission to
Armenia to discuss the disputed Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
After clashes that killed up to 16 people in the region earlier this
week, a US envoy has told local officials that Kosovo is not a
precedent for the mountain enclave.
Nagorno-Karabakh was seized by pro-Armenian forces from Azerbaijan in
the 1990s, in a war that killed tens of thousands of people. The
region runs its own affairs but has no international recognition.