Georgia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned Russia for setting up polling stations in its breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for Russian parliamentary elections held on Sunday.
Russia conducted a State Duma poll in Abkhazia and South Ossetia “illegally, in violation of fundamental principles of international law, without approval from Georgia’s national authorities,” the ministry said.
Russia’s Central Electoral Commission deployed 12 polling stations in Georgia’s separatist territories while the voters were people who had been illegally issued Russian passports, the ministry said.
It called on the international community to “respond appropriately.”
Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s. Georgian forces attempted to bring South Ossetia back under central control in August 2008, but were repelled by the Russian military. Russia subsequently recognized both republics as independent.
Since then, Russia has deployed thousands of troops and border guards to the tiny republics, which Georgia considers part of its sovereign territory.
Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny island nations of Nauru and Vanuatu are the only other countries to have recognized the republics.
