( Civil ) - Russia should end economic sanctions against Georgia and the latter should "continue to avoid provocative rhetoric" and pursue "exclusively peaceful means" to resolve separatist conflicts, Daniel Fried, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said on June 21.
In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Fried said Russian-Georgian relations, after a period of extreme tension, "have shown tentative signs of improvement."
"But we hope that Moscow does more to normalize relations," Fried added.
He noted, however, that in recent months Moscow had threatened the territorial integrity of Georgia by giving renewed support to separatist regimes and issuing veiled threats to recognize breakaway regions in both Georgia and Moldova.
"Let me be clear. There is no linkage or similarity between Kosovo and Georgia's breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moldova's breakaway Transnistria region," Fried said.