Georgia must cease anti-Russian rhetoric if bilateral relations with Russia are to improve, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated after sideline talks with his Georgian counterpart Gela Bezhuashvili at the OSCE Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting in Madrid on November 30.

For his part, Bezhuashvili said Tbilisi only took umbrage at Moscow’s policy toward Georgia, and was not anti-Russian per se—although he conceded that Georgia “should tone down” its rhetoric on some issues.

“If Russia’s attitude towards Georgia doesn’t change, the rhetoric as well as existing problems between the two countries will continue,” the news agency NewsGeorgia quoted Bezhuashvili as saying.

The encounter was the first time government officials from the two sides have met since Georgia accused Russia of sponsoring an alleged coup attempt in Tbilisi on November 7 after the government crackdown on protestors outside parliament.

In a thinly veiled reference to Tbilisi’s allegations, Lavrov remarked, “The Georgian side should stop attributing all its troubles to Russia.”

Before the talks, Bezhuashvili told journalists he would be bringing up the issue of the trade embargo which Russia imposed on Georgia last fall, severing land, sea and air links, and which has had a dramatic impact on Georgia’s wine trade.

“How long are we to remain in [economic] isolation? Isn’t it about time the borders were opened and free movement allowed?” Bezhuashvili told journalists.

Lavrov expressed the hope that bilateral relations would normalize, but stressed the need for “reciprocal moves from the Georgian side.”

On the issue of Georgia’s breakaway regions, Bezhuashvili said that promoting peace and stability in the Caucasus should be a common aim of both countries.

However, he also used the ministerial session to reiterate Tbilisi’s demands for “fundamental changes” to the peacekeeping format in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Georgia wants to see an “internationalization” of the current peacekeeping set-up, and recently declared the commander of CIS peacekeepers in Georgia, Sergey Chaban, persona non grata, following a clash between peacekeeping troops and Georgian police in the Abkhaz conflict zone on October 31.

Lavrov called on Georgia to focus more on resolving the conflicts, “instead of trying to undermine existing agreements.”

He also defended Moscow’s policy of allowing Russian citizens residing in the breakaway regions to participate in Duma elections this week, which has been sharply criticized by Georgia.

“All necessary measures have been carried out to ensure citizens of the Russian Federation—regardless of their location—have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” the Russian minister said.