Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday to mend ties between the two neighbors that have dipped to a new low since the Caucasus nation's brief detention of Russian officers in late September.

"We are not meeting in the best period in our relations. I expect that there will be more clarity as a result of this meeting about what we are to do to put right what is an unhealthy situation," Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying at the start of talks with Bezhuashvili.

Moscow, infuriated by the arrest of four Russian officers in Georgia, has imposed an economic blockade on the Caucasus nation by cutting transport and postal links and deported Georgians accused of staying in Russian illegally.

Speaking after talks with Lavrov, which Bezhuashvili described as "very useful," the Georgian minister said Russian sanctions against Georgia were raised at the meeting. "We certainly did. How could I not have brought up this issue."

He also said Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a planned summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States in Minsk, capital of Belarus, later this month.

Relations between Moscow and Tbilisi have been strained by tensions over Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and the country's bid to join NATO since Saakashvili came to power in 2003.

Bezhuashvili said current Georgian-Russian relations were not normal, but added: "Our openness gives us reasons to think that we will be able to put the situation on a normal course." 

(Xinhua News Agency November 2, 2006)