MEDVEDEV APPROVES GEORGIA BREAK-UP

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By Charles Clover in Moscow, Isabel Gorst in Tbilisi and Stefan Wagstyl in London
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
  

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev yesterday recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two Russian-controlled breakaway regions of Georgia in a shock move that provoked widespread criticism from the US and the European Union.

The decision could deepen the divide between Russia and the west and complicate efforts to establish political stability in the Caucasus region, the route of important oil and gas pipelines.

US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said the US regretted Russia's decision and would block any attempt to secure wider recognition at the UN. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Nato secretary-general said the move was “in direct violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions regarding Georgia's territorial integrity, resolutions that Russia itself has endorsed”.

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Speaking in Tallinn, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said: “This contradicts the basic principles of territorial integrity and is therefore absolutely unacceptable.”

Mr Medvedev responded by dismissing his western critics saying in a television interview that “nothing frightens us, including the prospect of a cold war, but we do not want this, and in this situation all depends on the position of our partners”.

However, behind the rhetoric, western officials indicated they would not seek to push relations with Russia to breaking point in view of the need for Moscow's co-operation on issues including Iran and global terrorism. Their positions also reflect the splits between more hawkish positions taken by the US and some east European states, and more conciliatory approaches of Germany and France.