Russia assessed as "contructive" German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's efforts to rekindle peace talks in Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia on Friday despite previous opposition to outside mediation in the rapidly escalating conflict, reported dpa.
"Steinmeier's activity has constructive character. He knows our standpoint well and is at this moment in (the Abkhaz capital of) Sukhumi to familiarize himself with the Abkhaz position," a foreign ministry source told news agency Interfax.
Steinmeier was due in Moscow later Friday to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in the last stop of his two-day tour to lobby a new peace plan with the disputing sides in Georgia.
The foreign ministry's praise for Steinmeier's initiative Friday came in marked contrast to Moscow's previous intransigence over growing Western concerns about the three way conflict with Georgia and its Russian-backed rebel regions.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last month said Tbilisi and Moscow should resolve problems "on our own."
Lavrov, nevertheless, was pessimistic about the prospect for success of the German peace plan, calling it "unrealistic for now" at a press conference on the eve of Steinmeier's visit.
Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia has enjoyed de facto autonomy since the end of a civil war ended in 1994.
But Moscow's recent moves to strengthen diplomatic ties and increase its peacekeeping mission in the region set off a dangerous row with Tbilisi, who says such steps amount to the creeping annexation of its territory.