Merkel to Russia: Georgia territory non-negotiable

ST PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told her Russian hosts during a visit on Thursday that Georgia's territorial integrity was non-negotiable, implicitly rebuking Moscow for recognizing two Georgian regions as independent states.

Merkel also said in opening remarks at a joint news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that countries should be able to decide freely if they wanted to join the NATO military alliance.

Germany's position, as expressed at the NATO Bucharest summit, was that Georgia and Ukraine were not yet ready to join and in December there would be a first opportunity to evaluate their situation again, she added.

(Writing by Michael Stott, editing by Christian Lowe)