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Clinton vows support to Georgia, pushes for Russian troop withdrawal

05 July 2010 20:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday reassured Georgia that the Obama administration would continue to press for Russian troops to withdraw from its territory, even as Washington seeks a warmer relationship with Moscow, APA reports quoting â€œThe Washington Postâ€.
"I think the United States can walk and chew gum at the same time," Clinton told a meeting of women leaders.
Of all the countries in the former Soviet sphere, Georgia is perhaps the most nervous that it will be sacrificed in the U.S. effort to "reset" relations with Russia. Georgiaâ€™s pro-Western government was a favorite of the Bush administration, and U.S.-Russian relations chilled after Moscow sent troops into Georgia in a 2008 dispute over two breakaway regions.
Clinton said the reset of relations with Russia had produced important results, including a new nuclear-arms treaty and assistance on Iranian sanctions.
"However, at the very same time we continue to object to, and criticize, actions by Russia which we believe are wrong. At the top of the list is the invasion and occupation of Georgia," she said.
Georgia was the last stop on Clintonâ€™s tour of five former Soviet bloc countries.
Georgiaâ€™s government emerged from the 2003 Rose Revolution, a series of mass demonstrations against fraud-tainted elections. The Bush administration had hailed the young, pro-Western leaders who came to power as role models in democratic transformation.
But in 2007, Georgian authorities violently broke up anti-government demonstrations, cracked down on the media and held elections criticized as not meeting international standards. International observers said recent local elections showed improvement.
During the womenâ€™s meeting, an opposition leader asked Clinton whether there was "any democratic agenda in the U.S. government for Georgia."
Clinton responded that the "United States always has a democratic agenda" and promised to raise concerns about the media, judiciary and elections with Georgian leaders. But she also urged the opposition to be constructive.