TBILISI, DFWatch — U.S. State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland gave more details about a meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Georgian foreign minister Maia Panjikidze Thursday.

Nuland said the two discussed the recent detentions of several former officials in Georgia.

“But in that context, our strong urging that democratic institutions be preserved, particularly rule of law and transparency, that there not be even the appearance of any political motivation in prosecutions, et cetera,” she said.

Besides the detentions, topics of their conversation was also Georgia’s foreign policy, commitment to NATO and EU path, and the participation in the NATO-led ISAF mission in Afghanistan now and after 2014.

“We obviously underscored our enduring commitment to Georgia, to its sovereignty, to its territorial integrity, to the Geneva process where we try to work through the difficulties there. And as I said, the Secretary was very clear about our rule of law expectations.”

A journalist asked why the US is not speaking out more strongly against the detentions of government and military officials connected with President Mikheil Saakashvili.

“I think the Secretary was very clear in her public statements that this is something that the international community is watching and that undergirds our support for Georgia, that the democratic values that we share, and rule of law being key among them, are vital to our support for Georgia,” Nuland said.