Russia's parliament unanimously approved resolutions on Monday 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.
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, provoking a massive counter-attack by land, sea and air by Moscow.
-- Germany says recognition would add to tension
-- US vice president to visit Georgia soon
There was a reminder of the fragility of the cease-fire when Georgian and South Ossetian forces faced off in a village over which both sides claim control. Each accused the other of preparing armed action, though there was no fighting. Recognising the rebel regions would anger Georgia's Western allies, which say its territorial integrity must be respected. Parliament's resolutions could signal Medvedev himself intends to grant recognition, or simply be a Kremlin bargaining chip.
Medvedev, who was at his summer residence in the resort of Sochi, just along the Black Sea coast from Abkhazia, did not immediately comment on the votes in parliament. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government is the past few days has grown increasingly critical of Russia's military intervention in Georgia, said Medvedev's recognition would add tension to an already critical situation.
"I expect that the Russian president won't sign the resolution," she told a news conference in Stockholm, where she was having talks with Swedish officials. Officials in the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, followed the Russian parliamentary debates on live television in a building pockmarked with shrapnel and bullets.
After the votes jubilant residents drove down Tskhinvali's Stalin Street waving the Russian and South Ossetian flags, thrusting their arms into the air and shouting "Victory, Victory".
"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 during the debate. "The peoples of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have the right to get independence."
Moscow has so far always stopped short of recognising the two rebel regions as independent, though Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signalled a tougher line recently when he said the world could "forget about" Georgia's territorial integrity.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili accused Moscow of trying to recreate the Soviet Union, when Georgia was a vassal of the Kremlin. "Russia is trying to seize our territories, the Russian government is trying to turn back time," he told a Cabinet meeting.
The White House announced on Monday that Vice President Dick Cheney, who in the past has accused Moscow of blackmailing its neighbours, will visit Georgia as part of a trip to Europe early next month.
Nato has signalled its displeasure at Moscow's actions by freezing contacts with Russia and US officials have said Russia's bid for membership of the World Trade Organisation could suffer. But the international response has been limited. Europe depends on Russia for its gas supplies, while Western states also need Moscow's co-operation in the nuclear stand-off with Iran and the security operation in Afghanistan.
France, the current European Union president which brokered a cease-fire, called a September 1 meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis and review the bloc's relations with Russia. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was cautious about the likely EU reaction. "We're not talking about sanctions," he told France Inter radio.