FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a news conference after the G20 summit in Hamburg, northern Germany, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Alexander Zemlianichenko/POOL/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit this week to the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia was “inappropriate,” the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Wednesday.

Putin made the visit to Abkhazia on Tuesday and assured it of Moscow’s military support, an act of defiance to Western governments that have condemned Russia’s backing for separatists.