Moscow hopes that talks, launched between Georgian PM’s special envoy and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister last month, “can lead to positive shifts in bilateral relations, of course, in those areas where it is real and possible,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on January 31.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin and Georgian PM’s special representative for relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze met in Switzerland on December 14 and agreed to continue direct talks on trade, economy and humanitarian issues.

Lukashevich said that Moscow was intending to continue this dialogue with Tbilisi.

The Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson made the remarks at a news conference in Moscow when asked if there were talks between Tbilisi and Moscow on possible restoration of diplomatic relations, as well as on “disputed territories” and on the issue of "return of Georgia to CIS" (Commonwealth of Independent States).

Responding to the question, Lukashevich also said that there “are no disputed territories.”

“It’s the Georgian ideology; these are not disputed territories; these are already independent states, subjects of the international law and sooner the Georgian leadership realizes that there are new political realities in the region, easer the process of settlement will proceed,” Lukashevich said.

On CIS, the Russian Foreign Ministry official said there were no talks with Georgia over this issue.

Some Russian and Georgian news agencies reported on January 29, citing director of the first department for CIS at the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Yevdokimov, that there were already contacts with Tbilisi over its possible return to CIS.     

Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman said that Yevdokimov’s remarks were misinterpreted by the media outlets.

“The issue of Georgia’s return to CIS is not part of the agenda of our contacts with Tbilisi,” Lukashevich said.