NATO urges Russia to withdraw from Georgian territory
By Mushvig Mehdiyev
NATO urges Russia to reverse its recognition of Georgia's Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions as independent states and withdraw its forces from Georgian lands.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg issued a special statement over the so-called treaty on "Alliance and Strategic Partnership", signed between Russia and the breakaway Abkhazia region on November 24.
Stoltenberg once again expressed NATO's full support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.
"We do not recognize the so-called treaty between the Georgian region of Abkhazia and Russia,” the NATO top official said.
Stoltenberg added that the treaty does not contribute to a peaceful and lasting settlement of the situation in Georgia. "Vice verse, it violates Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, blatantly contradicting the principles of the international law, OSCE principles and Russia’s international commitments," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and the de-facto leader of Georgia’s breakaway Abkhazia region Raul Khajimba put pen to the new treaty in Russia’s resort town Sochi on the Black Sea coast. The treaty builds bilateral military, political, economic and social relations between Russia and the separatist Abkhazia. Georgia and the international community call it annexation of Abkhazia by Russia.