MOSCOW, May 15 (RIA Novosti) - The German Embassy in Moscow has issued a visa to a seriously ill Abkhazian teenager who has to undergo an urgent medical procedure in a German clinic, a spokesman said on Friday.
The German Embassy in Moscow had earlier denied a visa to the 16-year-old, whose name has not been disclosed.
"Yesterday [Thursday] the teenager's family submitted an application for a visa and received one immediately," the embassy spokesman said. "There were no problems."
He said diplomats had to coordinate with their colleagues in Tbilisi, who as a rule issue visas to the residents of the former Georgian republic.
"The coordination needed to avoid any cheating," the spokesman said.
Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states after the five-day war with Georgia, which attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control. Most residents of both Abkhazia and South Ossetia had held Russian citizenship for several years.
Nicaragua is the only other country to have officially recognized the republics' independence.
