US State Department: there was no genocide in South Ossetia

Georges Bush's administration disagrees with the conclusions of Russian government that this August the authorities of Georgia made a genocide attempt in South Ossetia.

On December 23, Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigatory Committee at the Prosecutor's Office (ICPO) of the Russian Federation, reported that the ICPO possesses materials indicating that the authorities of Georgia had planned destruction of military and civil objects, including the villages inhabited by Ossetians.

The ITAR-TASS reports that on that very day at a regular briefing for journalists, Sean McCormack, head of the press service of the US State Department, made his comments on Mr Bastrykin's words and said that from Washington's viewpoint "there was no genocide" in South Ossetia.

The State Department has also officially confirmed that Washington and Tbilisi are discussing the text of a bilateral charter on strengthening cooperation of the two countries, similar to the one signed between the USA and Ukraine.

The charter is called to strengthen cooperation of Georgia with the States "for helping Georgia to advance its safety and democratic and market reforms." The document should strengthen the partnership of two countries and deepen the Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration, as the IA "News-Georgia" reports.