Russia calls for rebel regions' independence

Russia's Parliament yesterday unanimously approved resolutions calling for the recognition of two rebel regions of Georgia as independent states, a move likely to worsen already strained relations with the West.

Both Houses of Parliament, which are controlled by Kremlin loyalists, swiftly approved non-binding resolutions calling on President Dmitry Medvedev to recognise the pro-Moscow breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The Lower House approved a second resolution calling on parliaments worldwide to back independence for the two regions, saying they had many more reasons than the former Serb province of Kosovo to aspire to international recognition. The resolutions could either signal Mr Medvedev's intentions or be designed to strengthen his hand as he negotiates the status of Russian forces in Georgia with the West.

"Today it is clear that after Georgia's aggression against South Ossetia, Georgian-South-Ossetian and Georgian-Abkhazian relations cannot be returned to their former state," Upper House Speaker Sergei Mironov said. "The peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to get independence."

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signalled a tough line recently when he said the world could "forget about" Georgia's territorial integrity.

Mr Medvedev, who was in Sochi, just along the Black Sea coast from Abkhazia, said ties with Nato had "worsened sharply" as a result of the Georgian conflict. "We are ready to take any decision, up to halting relations altogether," he said.

Meanwhile Mr Medvedev yesterday also warned ex-Soviet Moldova against repeating Georgia's mistake of trying to use force to seize back control of a breakaway region.

Russia sent peacekeepers to Moldova in the early 1990s to end a conflict between Chisinau and its breakaway Transdniestria region.

Transdniestria, one of a number of "frozen conflicts" on the territory of the former Soviet Union, mirrored the standoff between Georgia and its rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"After the Georgian leadership lost their marbles, as they say, all the problems got worse and a military conflict erupted," Mr Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin.

"This is a serious warning, a warning to all," he added.