MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday paid his first official visit to Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia but recognized as an independent state by Moscow last month.

    The top Russian diplomat pledged to sign inter-governmental agreements in various fields with Abkhazia to show support to the independence of the Caucasus region, where Russian troops have been deployed.

    "The Russian troops' legal status will be enhanced in the next few days. It will be defined in our friendship, cooperation and interaction treaty. Everything will be stated absolutely clearly in it," Interfax cited Lavrov as saying following talks with Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh in the regional capital Sukhumi.

    Abkhazia and another Georgian region of South Ossetia broke from central Georgian rule during wars in the early 1990s following the collapse of the former Soviet Union, but their self-proclaimed independence is not recognized internationally.

    Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states on Aug. 26, two weeks after it concluded the recent conflict with Georgia.