[LINK] "Russia Recognizes Independence of Georgian Regions"

[rfmcdonald]

From Bloomberg comes Sebastian Alison and Lyubov Pronina's article "Russia Recognizes Independence of Georgian Regions".

Russia recognized the independence of Georgia's breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, deepening a rift with the West and striking a blow against NATO's eastward expansion.

``I signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,'' President Dmitry Medvedev said on television from Sochi today. ``Russia calls on other states to follow its example.''

Western governments condemned the move. The U.K. Foreign Office ``categorically'' rejected it, while the U.S. called it ``not helpful.'' Italy and France expressed regret. German Chancellor Angela Merkel described it as ``absolutely unacceptable,'' and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt termed the move a ``deliberate violation of international law.''

Russia's recognition of the two regions stems from its military rout of Georgia, which came this month in response to a Georgian operation to retake South Ossetia. It echoes the West's establishment of ties to Kosovo in February, a step Russia bitterly opposed after the enclave broke away from Serbia, a Russian ally. U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday urged Medvedev not to grant the regions recognition.

Medvedev's statement at his summer residence in Sochi, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics about 100 kilometers (62 miles) along the Black Sea coast from the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, followed a unanimous call by Russia's parliament yesterday to back the enclaves' aspirations for statehood.

[. . .]

South Ossetia, less than half the size of Kosovo, has a population of about 70,000. Russian officials say 2,100 civilians died in recent fighting in the region, which is connected to Russia via a tunnel through the Caucasus Mountains.

Slightly smaller than Cyprus, Abkhazia has about 200,000 people. Georgia says about 250,000 ethnic Georgians fled a war there in the early 1990s and haven't been allowed to return.