Russia, Georgia leaders say disputes can be solved
ST PETERSBURG, Russia, June 6 (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian leader Mikheil Saakashvili pledged on Friday to improve ties strained by a row over breakaway regions and Georgia's bid to join NATO.
"I think we can solve our difficulties ourselves and shape our relationship in the long term," Medvedev said in opening comments at a meeting with Saakashvili at a summit of ex-Soviet leaders in St Petersburg.
Relations between Georgia and Russia have plummeted over the status of the two Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Tbilisi's desire to join NATO.
In reply to Medvedev's remarks, Saakashvili said: "I also hope for fruitful cooperation. We have many unresolved problems but no unsolvable issues."
European Union foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, was in Abkhazia on Friday to promote dialogue between the rebels and Georgia.
In the latest source of friction, Russia has sent about 400 unarmed soldiers to Abkhazia to rebuild a railway destroyed in a war between the rebels and Georgia in the early 1990s.
Russia has said they are there on a humanitarian mission but Georgia says they are there to provide military support to the separatists. (Reporting by Oleg Shchedrov, writing by James Kilner; Editing by Charles Dick)
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