Georgia Conflict // Current

Putin: Ukraine sent weapons to Georgia

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused Ukrainian officials Friday of sending both weapons and military personnel to... more

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Georgia and Russia in Hague court over conflict

Georgian accusations that Russia committed human rights violations against ethnic Georgians in the breakaway provinces of South... more

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Russia will respond to "aggression"

Russia does not want confrontation with the West but will hit back if attacked, Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday, a... more

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Russian warships sent to Abkhazia

Russia has sent a missile cruiser and two other ships to a Georgian port, while a US military ship has docked at another southern... more

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Russia defies west by recognising Georgian rebel regions

Russia has stepped up its defiance of the west by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two breakaway provinces.

Less than three weeks after Russia and Georgia went to war over South Ossetia, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, said in a televised announcement: "I have signed decrees on the recognition by the Russian Federation of the independence of South Ossetia and the independence of Abkhazia."

Georgia condemned Medvedev's declaration. "This is an unconcealed annexation of these territories, which are a part of Georgia," said Giga Bokeria, the deputy foreign minister.

Western leaders followed suit, with some of the strongest language coming from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who called it "absolutely unacceptable" but called for dialogue to be maintained with Russia. The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said Russia's move was regrettable. She said Abkhazia and South Ossetia were part of Georgia "and it will remain so".

The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, said Russian recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions was "unjustifiable and unacceptable". A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We reject this categorically and reaffirm Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. This is contrary to obligations that Russia has repeatedly taken on in [UN] security council resolutions. It does nothing to improve the prospects for peace in the Caucasus."

France, which holds of the rotating presidency of the EU, reiterated its commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity. It has called a meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis next Monday.

There was jubilation in Abkhazia where people fired into the air, opened bottles of champagne and wept with joy. In Sukhumi, Abkhazia's capital on the Black Sea coast, office workers spilled into the streets moments after Medvedev made his announcement.

"We feel happy. We all have tears in our eyes. We feel pride for our people," Aida Gubaz, a 38-year-old lawyer, told Reuters. "Everything we went through, now we are getting our reward."

There were similar scenes in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, where a Reuters photographer heard celebratory gunfire on the city's outskirts

There's more........Russia has stepped up its defiance of the west by recognising the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two... more