West awaits Medvedev word on recognizing S.Ossetia

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-26 10:35

Mother of nine children Venara Kargiani, who fled from her village in Kodori Gorge at the border between the Abkhazia state and Georgia proper, stands in her one room shelter provided by the local administration in a school, which she shares with her children and husband in Kutaisi, a major town in western Georgia, August 25, 2008. [Agencies]

TBILISI - Georgia and its Western allies waited on Tuesday to hear if Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would recognize Georgia's regions as independent, a move Washington has warned would be unacceptable.

In a sign of the fragility of the ceasefire declared after Russian troops marched into the pro-Western state, Georgian and separatist forces were in a tense standoff over a disputed village on the fringes of South Ossetia.

The two houses of Russia's parliament adopted non-binding resolutions on Monday urging Medvedev to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and the second Georgian region of Abkhazia.

But the Kremlin leader issued no response to the unanimous votes in parliament.

US President George W. Bush said he was deeply concerned by the parliamentary votes. He urged Russia's leaders not to recognize the regions, which broke with Tbilisi after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as independent.

Senior officials of the world's leading industrial nations, the Group of Seven, also expressed alarm at the move.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief war over South Ossetia earlier this month after Tbilisi sent in troops to try to retake the province by force. Russia struck back with a massive Russian counter-attack by land, sea and air.

Russia has pulled out the bulk of its forces, but it has alarmed the West by stationing some troops deep inside Georgia's heartland on what it has called a peacekeeping mission.

The West says the troops give Moscow a stranglehold over vital ports and transport links and are a breach of a ceasefire deal. Georgia hosts a Western-backed oil pipeline which supplies about one percent of the world's crude.

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