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 Russia moved yesterday towards recognising Georgian separatist regions as independent, raising tensions after blocking a UN demand that it withdraw forces from Georgia.
Russian troops remained entrenched in the rebel provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, although President Dmitry Medvedev said the bulk of the forces would be out by the weekend. A senior Russian commander accused Georgian forces of regrouping in spite of their agreeing to pull back under a French-brokered ceasefire agreement and said the Government in Tbilisi still had ''aggressive'' intentions towards Russia. The Deputy Speaker of the Russian Parliament's upper house said the body, the Federation Council, would meet in emergency session on Monday to debate Abkhazia's and South Ossetia's requests for recognition as sovereign states. That announcement came moments after a senior Abkhaz legislator announced that the province would renew its appeal for recognition by Russia. According to Interfax news agency, Speaker Sergei Mironov said, ''The Federation Council is ready to recognise the independent status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia if that is what the people of these republics want.'' He said this would also require ''a corresponding decision by the Russian President''. Mr Medvedev, who was at his Black Sea coastal residence in Sochi, has already affirmed that Russia would ''unambiguously'' back any decision reached by the people of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The leadership of Georgia, backed by the US, has said it would accept no change to the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of Georgian territory. Although it has provided support to both regions, Russia has so far not recognised their independence claims. Formal recognition by the Russian Federation would redraw the map of Georgia and change the balance of power in the Caucasus. In a phone conversation with French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday, Mr Medvedev vowed that all but 500 Russian troops required for ''additional security measures'' would be pulled out of Georgia by tomorrow. In New York, though, Russia blocked a draft UN Security Council resolution demanding that its forces pull back to positions they held before the outbreak of fighting in Georgia on August 7. Russia's UN envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said it would be ''a waste of time'' to vote on the draft, which he called one-sided, because it reflected only two of the six points contained in the ceasefire agreement brokered by Mr Sarkozy. Russia's army expelled Georgian forces from South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as seizing control of several towns and strategic roads inside Georgia. AFP
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