West awaits Medvedev word on recognizing S.Ossetia

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

Black Sea Manoeuvres

The United States is Tbilisi's staunchest big-power ally and on Tuesday US navy vessels were bound for Georgia bringing relief supplies -- a deployment that has irked Moscow.

Russia media reported that the 'Moskva' missile cruiser, which earlier this month took part in the attack on Georgia, put into the Black Sea again for what the navy described as a routine training exercise.

The White House announced that US Vice President Dick Cheney would visit Georgia early next month as part of a European trip. Cheney has in the past been an outspoken Kremlin critic, accusing Russia of blackmailing its neighbors.

Georgian and South Ossetia forces were facing off late on Monday in the village of Mosabruni on the edge of the region, though there was no fighting.

Georgian police said the village was not part of South Ossetia territory, but the separatists accused Tbilisi of grabbing the village unlawfully.

The atmosphere was "very tense," Kakha Lomaia, Secretary of Georgia's National Security Council, told Reuters.

Kosovo Parallel

Russian lawmakers said Medvedev should recognize the two regions because they had a stronger claim to independence than Kosovo from Serbia and could no longer live within a state that sent in soldiers to try to restore its control.

Under Russian law, it is the prerogative of the president and not parliament to recognize foreign states.

Diplomats say the Kremlin may stop short of granting recognition, in part because it fears encouraging separatist sentiment in its own regions.

But they say Medvedev could instead use the threat of recognition as a bargaining chip.

The Russian troop pullback has in places revealed a trail of destruction where Russian forces have been destroying military infrastructure. They say that was necessary to prevent Tbilisi from committing new acts of aggression.

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