Georgian Foreign Minister Maia Panjikidze said on December 10 that Prime Minister’s special representative for relations with Russia, Zurab Abashidze, would “soon” meet Russian diplomats in one of the European cities, which she did not specify.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on December 9 there would be “contacts” with Georgian PM’s special envoy “in the nearest future” in an attempt to, as he put it, clarify context in which Tbilisi tries to normalize ties with Moscow.

“I can confirm there have been contacts and Zurab Abashidze will meet an official representative of the Russian Federation soon, probably within this week, in Europe, but I cannot yet specify an exact location,” Panjikidze told journalists.

“This meeting will be more of a technical nature,” she said, adding that at the planned meeting the sides will exchange views about their positions. “We might not be expecting any concrete positive results from this meeting, but the fact that this first meeting will take place is already in itself a positive development.”

“There has already been a contact [from Russia] directly with Mr. Abashidze and we are very glad that this contact took place,” she added.

Zurab Abashidze, the Georgian PM’s special envoy, is expected to make a statement about upcoming meeting on December 10.