Q On the same topic, South Ossetians' parliamentary speaker said that in meetings between President Medvedev and then the leader of South Ossetia, that the two men agreed that Russia would absorb South Ossetia in several years. And then the deputy parliamentary speaker of South Ossetia went on to say that Russia and South Ossetia are going to be signing an agreement to allow Russian military installations in South Ossetia.

MS. PERINO: Again, I don't find any of this surprising, given the actions of the past three weeks. But South Ossetia and Abkhazia are a part of Georgia under U.N.-recognized laws, in fact, laws and Security Council resolutions that Russia itself has supported. And I don't believe that Russia would want anybody questioning its territorial integrity. And we certainly don't. But we do expect the world to live up to its obligations to live up to the -- and live up to the law. And the law is that Georgia's territorial integrity should be intact and it should not be a question. And so it doesn't surprise me, though, that Russia and South Ossetia or Abkhazia would be having those conversations.

seen at 09:00, 29 August in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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