Occupied territories of Georgia
Both Abkhazia and South Ossetia are widely recognized as integral parts of Georgia and together represent 20% of Georgia's internationally recognized territory. The Georgian "Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia", adopted in 2008, criminalizes and prosecutes entry into Abkhazia and South Ossetia from the Russian side. The Georgian law also prohibits any economic and financial activities in the occupied territories. Georgia and several other members of the international community including the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, the European Union, OSCE, and Council of Europe have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as occupied territories and have condemned the Russian military presence and actions there.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In September 2012, "The Wall Street Journal" published an article by the Estonian defense minister Urmas Reinsalu, titled "Georgian Democracy and Russian Meddling". Reinsalu argued: "In Tallinn—and hopefully in Brussels, Paris and Washington as well—we are trying to understand what Russia expects to gain by occupying Georgian territory. Does the Kremlin believe that a country is excluded from NATO membership just because a fifth of its territory is occupied? Did Russian officials not hear when on two recent occasions, most recently at May's NATO Summit in Chicago, that Georgia was assured of admission into NATO?"