Occupied territories of Georgia
According to the Georgian law titled Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia, the term “the occupied territories and territorial waters” or “The Occupied Territories” covers the territories of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, Tskhinvali Region (territory of the former South Ossetia Autonomous Region) and waters in the Black Sea located in the aquatic territory of the Black Sea, along Georgia’s state border with the Russian Federation, to the South of the Psou river, up to the administrative border at the estuary of the Engury River. The term also covers the air space over the aforementioned territories.
Occupied territories of Georgia
In 2009, Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili mentioned in several addresses the fact that Russia was staying 40 kilometers away from Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, and aimed weapons at it.
In the province of Racha, the bridge on the road leading to the Mamison Pass on the border with Russia was blown up in June 2009 and Georgian border guards allegedly pulled back several kilometers deeper into the Georgian territory. Mamuka Areshidze, a Caucasus affairs expert, said that the pull back "could have been conditioned with the Georgian authorities willingness to prevent clashes with Russians".