The President also signed a directive appointing First Deputy Foreign Minister Valery Loshchinin and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Land Forces in Charge of Peacekeepers Lieutenant-General Valery Yevnevich to represent him during the Federation Council deliberations on the issue.
The Russian contingent has been performing a peace-keeping mission in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone since June 1994. The Federation Council has agreed to its use until June 30, 2003. The Yalta summit of the Council of the CIS Heads of State on September 19, 2003 extended the mandate of the collective peace-keeping forces in the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict zone until such time as one of the parties to the conflict calls for an end to the operation.