The illegal activities of the Russian commercial banks in Abkhazia was the main focus of the meeting of Roman Gotsiridze, President of the National Bank of Georgia and Aleksey Guznov, deputy head of the Legal Department of the Central Bank of Russia. President provided the Russian guest with exhaustive information on the illegal activities of the Russian commercial banks in Abkhazia. The National Bank President stated that the territorial integrity of Georgia is recognized by the international community, including Russia. Accordingly, it is a prerogative of the National Bank of Georgia to exercise its jurisdiction on the entire territory of Georgia and regulate banking activities. Therefore, it is illegal for the Russian banks to interfere in the activities of the banks in the Abkhazian territory in any form. The Georgian party expressed readiness to undertake effective mutual measures, including sending of the NBG specialists, as well as FATF and MONEYVAL experts to the Central Bank, President said.President also informed Aleksey Guznov about the comment of Mikheil Chalmaz, chairman of Abkhazian commercial bank Guarant Bank printed in the Russian media, where the chairman states: “there is a special state agency in Russia monitoring the activities of Abkhazian banks; therefore, money cannot be laundered through the Abkhazian banks”. With this statement, Chalmaz recognized the cooperation between the Russian and Abkhazian commercial banks, which was also the subject of the NBG President letter to the governor of the Russian Central Bank. The representative of the Russian Central Bank did not confirm the existence of the official agency within the Bank regulating the Abkhazian banking sector. Aleksey Guznov indicated that he did not possess information on the existence of such agency. At the end of the meeting, President Gotsiridze indicated that he would take part in the annual meeting of the Governors’ Club of Middle Asia, Balkan and Black Sea basin countries in St. Petersburg on May 27-28, where he would discuss the illegal activities of the Russian banks in Abkhazia.