Tbilisi hopes the Pacific island nation of Fiji will withstand “temptation or pressure” from Russia and will not recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Davit Jalagania said on January 30.

“We hope that the authorities of Fiji will remain committed to international principles and those principles, which are recognized by all UN member states and they will withstand this temptation or pressure and remain committed to good partnership with us as well as to those commitments, which they have undertaken,” Jalagania said at a news conference when asked about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s planned visit to Fiji this week as part of his trip to number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, who said last week that international recognition of Sokhumi and Tskhinvali was not going well for Moscow, visited New Zealand, Australia and Fiji last autumn.