Fury over visit

RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday made an unannounced visit to Abkhazia, his first trip to the breakaway Georgian region since Moscow’s war with Tbilisi two years ago.

Medvedev held talks with Abkhazia’s rebel leader Sergei Bagapsh and toured the sea embankment of its main city Sukhumi on the second anniversary of the conflict with Georgia, an AFP correspondent reported.

In the wake of the war, Moscow recognised Abkhazia and fellow rebel region South Ossetia as independent states – a move so far followed by a handful of countries and condemned by the West.