Leaders of breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Alexander Ankvab and Leonid Tibilov, respectively, held a meeting in Sochi, according to their press offices.

“Alexander Ankvab and Leonid Tibilov were present at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games,” Abkhaz leader’s press office said in a brief written statement on February 8. “Presidents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia discussed issues of bilateral cooperation.”

Tibilov’s spokesperson said that in Sochi the South Ossetian leader also met chairman of Russia’s State Duma committee on CIS and Eurasian integration Leonid Slutsky.
 
Georgia’s Foreign Minister, Maia Panjikidze, said late on February 7 that she does not see “any necessity whatsoever at this stage” in making “official reaction” by Tbilisi to the presence of breakaway regions’ leaders in Sochi as they were there in their personal capacity and they were not “officially” invited there either by Russia or by the International Olympic Committee.

One of the issues that caused controversy in Georgia over the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics on February 7 was how Georgia’s map was projected on arena floor when a small Georgian team of athletes paraded in the Fisht Stadium. The satellite zoom in on Georgia showed parts of Abkhazia covered by what appeared to be clouds; some in Georgia complained it was done deliberately to portray Georgian map without its breakaway region.