SOPOT, Poland. Sept 1 (Interfax-AVN) - The international community should pinpoint priority principles to resolve territorial conflicts, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.
After a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk, Putin unexpectedly approached a group of journalists who were shouting out questions, some of which dealt with Georgia and the international community's reaction to Russia's decision to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states.
"We have an absolutely clear and understandable strategy: either the international community follows one of the fundamental principles - the observance of a state's territorial integrity, or the principle of a nation's right to self-determination will be given the upper hand," the Russian prime minister said.
"You call it occupation, but the small nations of the Caucasus, the population of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, regard it as their liberation, independence, etc," Putin said.
"That is why I want neither to offend nor to humiliate Georgia by speaking about what happened," the Russian prime minister said.
"The irresponsible steps taken by Georgia's current authorities led to this tragedy," he said.
"I am simply convinced that if it had never happened, if their autonomy had not been liquidated, and if there had been no pressure from the present Georgian authorities, all this would never have taken place. You know that Russia supported Georgia's territorial integrity, although the republics I have already mentioned had declared their independence a long time ago," Putin said.
"The situation changed dramatically after Mr. [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili's actions. And we had no choice other than the option you already know," he added.