Georgia's envoy says relations with Russia improving

Georgia's Special Representative for Relations with Russia Zurab Abashidze says Georgian-Russian relations are improving. The two nations broke off diplomatic ties during the 2008 war.

Abashidze notes however that the process of full restoration of mutual ties will be long and difficult.

"No one believed that this process would be easy. We were working step by step and we have accomplished 80 percent of what we had scheduled," the Georgian official is quoted as saying.