EU, US spurn Russian recognition of S Ossetia, Abkhazia; Russia is trying to legalise the results of an ethnic cleansing: Georgia

MOSCOW: Russia recognised two separatist areas of Georgiaas independent nations on Tuesday, setting off a tsunami of official protests from Europe and the United States. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev faced down the criticism, saying he was not afraid of a new Cold War and it was up to the West to avoid it.

Tensions between Moscow and the West were further stoked by US plans to deliver humanitarian aid aboard a gunship landing on Wednesday in Georgia’s Black Sea port of Poti, an area ringed by Russian checkpoints.

The Russian president was unapologetic about his decision, which came one day after Russia’s Kremlin-controlled parliament voted unanimously to support diplomatic recognition for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

“This is not an easy choice but this is the only chance to save people’s lives,” Medvedev said in a televised address after he formally signed the diplomatic decree.

Few other nations are likely to follow Russia’s lead, despite Medvedev’s urging. Later, he addressed the issue of the rapid deterioration in relations between Russia and the West.

“We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a new Cold War,” Medvedev was quoted as saying Tuesday by the ITAR-Tassnews agency. “But we don’t want it and in this situation everything depends on the position of our partners.” “If they want to preserve good relations with Russia in the West, they will understand the reason behind our decision,” Medvedev added.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia have effectively ruled themselves following wars with Georgia in the 1990s, but they are heavily dependent on Moscow for pensions, government subsidies and passports.

Medvedev’s declaration came as Russian forces remain in Georgia long after a five-day war, staking out positions beyond the borders of the separatist provinces.

Russia’s military presence seems likely to further weaken Georgia, a Western ally in the Caucasus region, a major transit corridor for energy supplies to Europe and a strategic crossroads close to the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia and energy-rich Central Asia.

Medvedev said Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili had forced Russia’s hand by launching an Aug. 7 attack to seize control of South Ossetia by force.

“Saakashvili chose genocide to fulfil his political plans,” Medvedev said. “Georgia chose the least human way to achieve its goal to absorb South Ossetia by eliminating a whole nation.” Hundreds of jubilant Ossetians and Abkhazians spilled into the streets of their regional capitals on Tuesday, waving national flags, firing shots in the air, cheering and dancing traditional Caucasian dances.

“This is the happiest day of my life,” said Julia Babuyeva, 19, as she celebrated in Tskhinvali, the devastated South Ossetian capital.

On the heels of Russia’s first post-Soviet invasion of a foreign country, recognition was another stark demonstration of the Kremlin’s determination to hold sway in lands where its clout is jeopardised by NATO expansion and growing Western influence. The two former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine are both pressing to join NATO.

US President George W Bush urged the Kremlin not to recognize the regions, and dispatched Vice President Dick Cheney on a visit to Georgia next week. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called the Russian move “regrettable.”

“Abkhazia and South Ossetia are a part of the internationally recognised borders of Georgia and it’s going to remain so,” Rice said on Tuesday. “This simply will be dead on arrival in the (UN) Security Council.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the Russian recognition as “absolutely not acceptable,” but insisted Europe must still keep channels of communication open with Moscow.

France, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, and has called a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis on Monday.

Yet Russia says the West badly undermined its own arguments for the sanctity of Georgia’s borders by supporting Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia, a Russian ally, in February. Georgia lashed out at Russia, as expected. The recognition has “no legal status,” Georgia’s state minister on reintegration, Timur Yakobashvili, told The Associated Press. “Russia is trying to legalise the results of an ethnic cleansing it has conducted,” he said. “But it will result in Russia’s isolation from the world.”

Masha Lipman, an author and expert with the Moscow Carnegie Centre think tank, said the move will portend Russia’s further diplomatic isolation.

“I think this is an indication that Russia has opted for further aggravation in relations with the West, and a very serious rift this time,” she said.