Latest Round Of Russia-Georgia Talks To Begin In Geneva

The 28th round of the Geneva International Discussions, launched after the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, starts on June 17.

The two-day talks are co-chaired by representatives from the EU, UN, and OSCE and involve negotiators from Georgia, Russia, and the United States, as well as from Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

For the first time, the talks will be attended by the EU's new special representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia, Herbert Salber.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said earlier that its delegation, led by First Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Zalkaliani, will focus on the practice of arbitrary detentions in the two breakaway regions and what it said were recent violations of Georgian airspace by Russian military helicopters.

Moscow keeps troops in both regions in what Georgia considers an occupation.

With reporting by apsny.ge and pia.ge