Tbilisi - Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze claimed yesterday to have the backing of his Russian counterpart, Mr Putin, in his efforts to resolve the long-running crisis in the separatist region of Abkhazia.
Mr Putin "said to me very clearly that Russia would actively support Georgia in the matter of resolving the Abkhazian conflict", Mr Shevardnadze said during a press briefing in Moscow.
Abkhazia claimed de-facto independence from Georgia in 1993 after a war in which the separatists were supported by Moscow. Some 250,000 Georgians fled the region at the time.