Reports that the railway link from Armenia to Russia via Georgia and the separatist self declared Republic of Abkhazia have been strongly denied by the Georgian Government. A statement from the Georgian Foreign Ministry on Friday said that
"The government of Georgia showed interest in this topic earlier and is now ready to discuss this initiative, though this does not mean that a decision has been taken. We confirm that the government of Georgia is studying the issue of restoring railway and considers that it may be interesting, but there's a long way to go before the decision. A lot of political and technical issues need to be reviewed. There must be a discussion and public opinion must be formed. The government of Georgia has not taken any official decision regarding restoring the rail traffic through Abkhazia and it's early to make any statement beforehand".
The denial was triggered by press reports that the Secretary of the Armenian National Security Council, Artur Baghdasaryan, had said that Moscow, Tbilisi and Sukhumi had agreed to reopen the Abkhaz section of the railway, which would provide Armenia a rail link with Russia. Baghdasarian also said that the matter had been discussed between President Putin and President Sargsyan when they met earlier in the week.
source: commonspace.eu with agencies.
