2009-06-02 02:21:03 -

WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States has derided Sunday's elections in South Ossetia region of Georgia as a step away from peaceful negotiations to settle the region's status. State Department spokesman Robert Wood says the U.S. government «regrets the decision to hold so-called `elections»' in South Ossetia.
In a statement Monday, Wood said the United States recognizes neither the legality of the exercise in the region's separatist parliament nor the results.
The European Union also refused to accept the elections in the region that claimed independence after the Georgia's short war with Russia last year.