RUSSIA:THE RUSSIAN parliament voted unanimously yesterday in support of independence for the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Moscow's leaders said they were ready to sharply reduce co-operation with the West. DANIEL McLAUGHLINreports
The final decision on whether to recognise the sovereignty of the two provinces will fall to Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who said the Kremlin would accept "the severing of the whole relationship" with Nato if it sought to freeze ties with Moscow.
Prime minister Vladimir Putin sent a further chill through relations with the US and European Union by threatening to withdraw from some deals between Moscow and the World Trade Organisation "which currently oppose the interests of the Russian Federation".
The sharp exchanges between Moscow, Washington and Brussels seem likely to intensify, as the EU prepares for a special meeting on Georgia next Monday, and hawkish US vice-president Dick Cheney heads for the strategic Black Sea state the following day.
"Russia's historic role of the guarantor of peace in the Caucasus has increased," Boris Gryzlov, speaker of Russia's lower house of parliament, said after yesterday's vote supporting sovereignty for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"The Caucasus have always been and will remain a zone of Russia's strategic interests."
The resolution - which has no legal force until ratified by the Russian president - sparked celebrations in South Ossetia, where Russian tanks crushed a Georgian attempt to retake control earlier this month.
But the vote was swiftly denounced by EU members, the White House and Georgia's pro-western leaders in Tbilisi.
"This isn't 1921 any more," said Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, referring to the Soviet occupation of the Georgian capital.
"Russia isn't a mediator any longer in Georgia's separatist regions . . . Now the Russian government is trying to legalise its actions and to drag us back into the Soviet Union."
US state department spokesman Robert Wood said it would be "unacceptable" for the Kremlin to recognise the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, adding that "Russia needs to respect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia".
German chancellor Angela Merkel said she assumed that "the Russian president will not sign this resolution, because that would bring about a very difficult and critical situation in regards to Georgia's territorial security".
Russia threatened to recognise the independence claims of the two regions in retaliation for widespread western support for Kosovo's split earlier this year from Serbia, Moscow's closest ally in the Balkans.
United States, EU and Nato officials again rebuked Russia yesterday for failing to withdraw troops to the positions they held before fighting began on August 7th.
Moscow claims a French- brokered ceasefire deal allows it to keep forces in a "buffer zone" around Abkhazia and South Ossetia, while Georgia says Russian soldiers are operating illegal checkpoints deep inside its territory.
"Our relationship will be judged by Russian compliance with the peace plan," said Nato spokeswoman Carmen Romero.
"Nobody in Nato wants to shut the door to Russia but under the present circumstances we cannot have business as usual."
Russian bear's army shows its sharper claws: Opinion, page 13