U.S. urges Russia to repeal decree on Georgia

The United States urged Russia on Friday to repeal a presidential decree designed to strengthen ties with separatist regions of Georgia.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she called her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to express unhappiness over Russian President Vladimir Putin's decision on Wednesday ordering his government to establish legal links with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"We urge Russia to live up to its statements of support for the principles of Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity and to repeal the April 16 instructions," Rice's spokesman Sean McCormack said in a written statement.

Both regions threw off Tbilisi's control in the early 1990s after fighting wars with the Georgian government, which wishes to bring them back under its influence and which resents the moral support and practical help Russia has offered them for years.

Western states suspect Russia of trying to punish Georgia, a small Caucasus nation, for its bid to join NATO - an effort actively supported by the United States at a NATO summit in Bucharest this month.

"We are very concerned at the steps that have been taken and we have made our views known to the Russian government," Rice told reporters at the start of a meeting with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.

"The United States is absolutely committed to the territorial integrity of Georgia," Rice said.

In his statement, McCormack said the United States was "deeply concerned" by Moscow's move, which "challenges Georgia's territorial integrity."

Putin ordered his government on Wednesday to recognize some documents issued by the separatist authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and cooperate with them on trade and other issues.

Putin's decree made no mention of recognizing the two regions' claims for independence from Georgia. But Georgia condemned the move as a breach of international law, and NATO's chief urged Russia to reverse the decision.

Just before Rice spoke on Friday, Putin ordered his government to restore postal links with Georgia and lift visa restrictions on Georgian nationals, in a move Russia's Foreign Ministry said was aimed at confirming Moscow's "constructive" policy toward Georgia.

But McCormack told reporters that Russia's moves on Friday did not appear to change Putin's earlier decree that increased Moscow's contacts with the separatist regions without Georgia's approval.

Still, McCormack said, anything that would enhance relations between Russia and Georgia was "a positive thing."

In his statement, McCormack said the United States also regretted Russia's decision to drop economic and military sanctions against Abkhazia that were imposed over a decade ago by the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States. Russia's withdrawal from the sanctions raised concern about "military transparency" in the region, McCormack said.

He urged Abkhazia to seriously consider initiatives by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili for a negotiated resolution of the conflict.

Rice said she spoke on Thursday with Saakashvili. She told reporters that Georgia needed to take steps to improve the lives of the people in the separatist regions.