UPDATE: Abkhazia To Ask Russia To Recognize Independence

http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/update-abkhazia-to-ask-russia-to-recognize-independence-507747

Wednesday August 20th, 2008 / 8h30

(Adds details.)
SUKHUMI, Georgia (AFP)--Georgia's separatist region of Abkhazia is to launch a formal appeal Wednesday for Russia to recognize it as an independent country, the deputy speaker of Abkhazia's parliament told AFP.
"The people of Abkhazia intend to ask the Russian leadership to recognize Abkhazia," said the rebel republic's deputy speaker Vyacheslav Tsugba.
On Wednesday, Abkhazia's parliament will consider an independence appeal to the Russian leadership by the region's leader Sergei Bagapsh, Tsugba said.
On Thursday, a broad assembly with representatives of all the region's political parties and movements will meet on a square in the center of the capital Sukhumi to finally approve the appeal, he said.
Russia has said that in the wake of Georgia's Aug. 7 attack on South Ossetia, another breakaway region, neither it nor Abkhazia can remain part of Georgia.
Both regions have enjoyed de facto independence since breaking from Tbilisi in wars in the early 1990s but no country has recognized either region.