US embassy pays tribute to memory of Abkhazian conflict victims

The United States embassy to Georgia on Tuesday paid tribute to the memory of those who died during the 1992-1993 war in Georgia’s north-western region of Abkhazia, a territory currently occupied by Russia.

In comments marking the 29th anniversary of the fall of regional capital Sokhumi in the conflict, the embassy in Tbilisi stressed the US maintained its “steadfast support” for Georgia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“29 years after the fall of Sokhumi, the pain that followed the Russian-backed massacre is palpable. This is the pain that was left in the hearts of the loved ones of tens of thousands of victims, and the pain that hundreds of thousands of displaced people live with every day. We always see in their eyes that their home is so close and yet so far”, the statement of the diplomatic office said.

Earlier today Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili reiterated the importance of peaceful reintegration of the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions of Georgia.