Russian Foreign Ministry accuses Hillary Clinton of bias

July 7, 2010 - 20:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted the statements by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her visit to Tbilisi on July 5 that the United States will not accept the “Russian occupation of Georgia’s territories” and will seek “de-occupation of Georgia.”

“Under international law, occupation is a temporary stationing of the troops of one state on the territory of another in conditions of a state of war between them. Moreover, authority in the occupied territory is exercised by the military command of the occupying state.

Thus, the use by Secretary of State Clinton of the term “occupation” has no foundation beneath it. There is not a single Russian service member in the territory of Georgia. In the region there are Russian military contingents, but they are stationed in the territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have seceded from Georgia as a result of the aggression unleashed by the Saakashvili regime. At the same time Abkhazia and South Ossetia have their own democratically formed legislative, executive and judicial authorities fully operational; political parties are actively working there.

Russian troops and bases in the two republics are stationed on the basis of bilateral interstate agreements in full accordance with the norms of international law.

We expect that our partners will take account of this objective reality in their public and practical activities,” reads the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.