The U.S. secretary of state has urged Russia to respect Georgia's territorial integrity and to stop supporting separatist republics within the South Caucasus nation.
The UN Security Council considered the problem of Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia Tuesday. Representatives of Georgia, Russia and the U.S. attended the session, but the Abkhazian envoy said he had been denied a visa.
"We expect Russia to have influence with its neighbors -- you always have influence with your neighbors -- but that it ought to take the character of respect for the independence of those states and in the case of Georgia, respect for the territorial integrity of Georgia, which means doing nothing to suggest that the separatist movements in South Ossetia or in Abkhazia have any claim to independence," Condoleezza Rice told reporters.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the 1990s following bloody conflicts. Russia said it helped mediate the conflict and sent peacekeepers to the conflict zone, where they have remained ever since. A UN military and police mission has also monitored the region since 1993, and its latest six-month mandate is set to expire April 13.
Georgia's Western-leaning authorities have been seeking to reinstate control over the breakaway regions, and have accused Russia of fuelling separatist sentiments in the republics.
"Georgia is an independent state. It can choose its foreign policy direction," Rice said.
Russia's relations with the Georgian leadership have been strained ever since the 2003 "rose revolution" brought them to power. Many in Russia then suspected the U.S. of having a hand in the events.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070410
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