International Center on Conflict and Negotiation (ICCN)

NATO foreign ministers will meet counterparts from four "aspirant countries" on the sideline of upcoming Chicago summit in an attempt to reaffirm that, although this summit is not about enlargement, the Alliance remains focused on its open door policy, a senior U.S. Department State official said on May 10.

A senior U.S. Department of States official said on May 10, that Washington had been "very active in preventing any further" international recognition of Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Four days after being sworn in as Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin met in Sochi with leader of breakaway Abkhazia Alexander Ankvab on May 11.

A day after meeting with leader of breakaway Abkhazia, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met with Leonid Tibilov, a new leader of Georgia’s another breakaway region of South Ossetia in Sochi on May 12.

"We all know what has preceded to your election," Putin told Tibilov. "I very much hope, that situation will be improving."

Georgia’s parliamentary elections this October has "a huge security dimension", because Russia has deliberately timed its planned military drills in North Caucasus with polls in Georgia, President Saakashvili said on May 12.

At the Chicago summit on May 20-21 NATO will acknowledge "in a very visible way" both what "Georgia has achieved and what it contributes to the trans-Atlantic alliance", NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview with RFE/RL.

The European Commission released on May 15 its annual report on progress in relations between the EU and its neighbors, including Georgia.

The annual report identifies reform achievements made by countries within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2011 and outlines the areas where further efforts are needed.

Russia said on March 27, that any U.S. military cooperation with Georgia "is fraught with rather grave consequences for peace" in the region because of "unpredictability of the Saakashvili regime."

Germany supports Georgia"s "ambitious" European choice and will "actively advocate" for bringing Georgia closer to Euro-Atlantic structures, which will require democratic and institutional reforms, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said during his visit to Tbilisi on March 15.