Moldova rejects Georgian regions' recognition

Moldova refuses to recognise the independence of Georgia's South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, the government of the small ex-Soviet state with its own breakaway region said yesterday.

Russia's recognition of the two regions, after chasing out Georgian troops trying to retake South Ossetia, plunged relations with the West to new lows.

Russia sent peacekeepers to Moldova in the early 1990s to end a conflict between Chisinau and the breakaway Transdniestria region, which like the Georgian regions is populated by mainly ethnic Russians.

"The government of Moldova does not think at this moment that international recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will become a factor stabilising the situation," the government said in a statement.

Moldova, squashed between Ukraine and Romania, fears that Russia could recognise Transdniestria especially after many Western countries supported the independence of Kosovo, formerly part of Serbia, which Russia opposed.