Moscow: Russian lawmakers yesterday unanimously passed a resolution backing the independence of Georgia’s rebel regions, a move sure to deepen a rift with the West over Moscow’s military actions in the former Soviet state.
In an emergency session, the two houses of Parliament unanimously voted in a motion urging President Dmitry Medvedev to recognize the provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent.
The rush toward recognition of the ethnically separate regions follows the brief but bloody war between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia earlier this month.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Parliament vote on Georgia’s two breakaway regions has brought sharp responses from the West. The EU reacted yesterday with its executive commission saying “the European Union strongly supports Georgia’s territorial integrity.”
France, meanwhile, stressed its “respect for the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia, in its internationally recognized borders.”
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Medvedev not to recognize the breakaway provinces, saying the Parliament votes were “in no way appropriate to either calming or defusing” tensions in the region. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called a special meeting of EU leaders Sept. 1 to discuss aid to Georgia and future relations with Russia.
Moscow has long backed the rebel governments of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but stopped short of acknowledging the republics’ repeated appeals for independence since they won de facto autonomy 15 years ago in a civil war. Launching their plea to Russian deputies in Moscow, South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity called Georgian action the “Caucasus Stalingrad.”
“It is hard to say what decision Russia’s political leaders will make on our republics, but I can say for certain that Abkhazia and South Ossetia will never be part of Georgia,” Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh told lawmakers. The Kremlin will have the final say on recognizing the republics, and experts say it is likely to request that the provinces hold a referendum, delaying the decision but enhancing its negotiation position with the West. Medvedev last week promised the rebel leaders in Moscow that Russia would support their move toward self-determination.
Moscow has warned repeatedly that Kosovo’s recent independence could serve as a legal precedent for recognizing the rebel regions’ break from Georgia.
But Western powers have defended Georgia’s “territorial integrity” throughout the conflict, and any move by Moscow toward recognition will drive deeper a wedge in relations now strained to their most critical state since Cold War years.
