Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh on Wednesday rejected the U.S. state secretary's recent comments about the country's "occupation" by Russian troops.
He instructed parliament and public organizations to respond to Hillary Clinton's allegations.
Speaking in Tbilisi on Monday on the final stage of her East European and South Caucasus tour, Clinton said the United States fully supported Georgia and "flatly rejects" Russian claims to have a privileged sphere of influence concerning former Soviet republics.
She said the presence of Russian troops in Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia was in breach of the ceasefire that ended the five-day Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 and urged Moscow to honor its commitments, "including ending the occupation and withdrawing Russian troops from South Ossetia and Abkhazia to their pre-conflict positions."
Bagapsh stressed that Russian troops "did not occupy Abkhazia - they are present here on the basis of an interstate treaty, ensuring the security and stability of the region."
Abkhazian Foreign Minister Maksim Gvindzhia said his "U.S. colleagues" did not want to recognize reality.
"It is outrageous...to call a state an 'occupied' territory even though that state is governed by a popularly elected president and parliament and where all government and civil society institutions are functional," he said.
SUKHUMI, July 7 (RIA Novosti)
