Russia Will Resume Issuing Visas To Georgians

Russia will resume issuing visas to Georgian citizens this week, seven months after diplomatic relations were cut in the aftermath of a brief war, Georgian and Russian officials said on Monday.

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze told reporters Russia would begin issuing visas on March 4 from the Russian embassy in Tbilisi, which was abandoned after ties were severed.

"The Russian visas will be issued from the former Russian embassy in Tbilisi where Swiss and Russian diplomats will be working," a spokeswoman for the Georgian Foreign Ministry said.

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed visas would be issued by Swiss diplomats, Russia's RIA news agency reported.

Tbilisi cut off diplomatic ties in August when the Kremlin recognised Georgia's two breakaway regions -- South Ossetia and Abkhazia -- as independent states after Russian troops repelled a Georgian assault on South Ossetia.

Both the pro-Russian regions threw off Tbilisi's rule in the early 1990s.

Georgia said Swiss diplomats at the Georgian embassy in Moscow would resume issuing visas for Russian citizens planning to spend more than three weeks in Georgia. Russians are currently issued with visas for up to three weeks on entering the country.