De facto Abkhaz president meets Lukashenko as part of his Russian trip

Aslan Bzhania, the de facto president of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, has met with Aleksandr Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, to discuss “bilateral ties”, and then he will return to Moscow, the domestic media reported on Monday. 

Minsk has not released any official information about Bzhania’s visit yet. No official comment has yet been made in Tbilisi.

The de facto leader of occupied Abkhazia left for Moscow on February 14. Bzhania’s press office said during the visit he would hold meetings with the representatives of the administration of the Russian president. The report did not mention a possible meeting with president Vladimir Putin.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian president, said last week no such meeting had been scheduled. 

The Abkhaz media outlets claimed Bzhania’s trip to Moscow was related to the status of the region, with the de facto authorities rejecting such reports.