Press Statement by US Department of State Spokesman J. Rubin, OSCE Monitoring of Russian-Georgian Border,
23 February 2000


Supporting Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity is a central element of U.S. policy in the Caucasus region, and we remain deeply concerned about the potential for spillover of violence from the North Caucasus into Georgia. We note Acting Russian President Putin's December 11, 1999, statement that "Russia will never cross the border of a sovereign state."