Diplomatic roulette breaks out after Russian vote on separatists
A vote by Russia's parliament to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations triggered an outbreak of diplomatic roulette Monday as Washington said it would review its "entire relationship" with Moscow.
The White House warned Moscow it cannot unilaterally decide the fate of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow was ready to break with NATO.
Tensions were underscored by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's announcement that Russia would withdraw from some WTO trade accords, as the US said Vice President Dick Cheney would visit Georgia.
There was a flurry of other activity, as the European Union prepared for a special summit set for next Monday, France expressed concern at reports of looting and intimidation in South Ossetia, while a Russian warship left Sevastopol Monday.
With Russian troops still deep in Georgia, both houses of the Russian parliament passed motions urging Medvedev to recognise the independence of South Ossetia -- where the conflict began this month -- and Abkhazia.
The pair are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, where Russian troops rolled in on August 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.
Addressing the Federation Council upper house, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said Russia had saved his region from "genocide."
He asserted there was more political and legal legitimacy to recognising South Ossetia's independence than there had been for Kosovo, the Serbian province which broke free with EU and US backing earlier this year.
Abkhaz leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said: "Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will ever again live in one state with Georgia."
The final decision rests with Medvedev, but he has already signalled his support and on Monday he mentioned the South Ossetia case when he said a dispute with Moldova over the Transdniestr region could be settled.
Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin that the dispute over Transdniestr, which lies on Moldova's eastern edge and where there are Russian troops, should be viewed in the context of the Georgia conflict.
Events in South Ossetia showed "how dangerous such so-called frozen conflicts can be, given that the Georgian leadership, as they say, went crazy," Medvedev said, according to Interfax news agency.
Transdniestr fought a brief independence war after the Soviet Union's collapse but is not internationally recognised.
"We're reviewing our entire relationship with Russia, both for the medium term and the long term," said spokesman Tony Fratto, who added that there is "no question that Russia has not lived up to the ceasefire agreement."
"The status of those two regions in Georgia are not a matter for any one country to decide. They're a matter for the international community, through the mechanisms at the United Nations," he added.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia was making "an attempt to change Europe's borders by force," in an interview with French newspaper Liberation.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the vote was "worrying" and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on him to be "particularly prudent" in his decision.
Poland meanwhile hopes to convince the European Union to take a hard line on Russia at a special summit on September 1, its prime minister said Monday.
"I spoke with Chancellor Merkel this morning to make the European position uniform, harder and categorical concerning Russia in the context of the crisis in the Caucasus," Premier Donald Tusk told reporters.
A US destroyer, the USS McFaul, carrying relief supplies, arrived at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday and in a new show of US support, the White House said Cheney would visit Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week.
But later, a Russian warship -- equipped with P-500 Bazalt sea-based anti-ship missiles and an air defence system -- left the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
Meanwhile, security troops in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia detained a group of Georgian policemen, the separatist interior minister Mikhail Mindzayev told Interfax news agency.
Medvedev said Russia was prepared for a full break in relations with NATO but urged the Western alliance to avert a rupture.
"There has been a dramatic worsening of our relations, but we are not to blame," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
Adding to the diplomatic souring, Putin, his predecessor and mentor, said Russia had decided to withdraw from some agreements reached during negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation.
Russia withdrew tanks, artillery and hundreds of troops from their most advanced positions in Georgia on Friday. But Russian troops still control access to the port city of Poti, south of Abkhazia, and have established other checkpoints around South Ossetia.
Russia claims a six-point peace plan brokered by France's President Nicolas Sarkozy gives it the right to leave "peacekeepers" in a buffer zone deep inside Georgia.
AFP
