Russia recognition for Georgia rebel areas

The lower house, or State Duma, was due to approve a similar resolution later in the morning. “We will look today at the appeals from the peoples of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to recognise the independence of these republics, I think that all these decisions will be accepted,” said Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov.

The non-binding resolutions could either signal Medvedev’s intentions or be intended to strengthen his hand as he negotiates the status of Russian forces in Georgia with the West.

France, which brokered a ceasefire in the conflict called a September 1 meeting of EU leaders to discuss the crisis and review the bloc’s relations with Russia.

But French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was more cautious. “We’re not talking about sanctions,” he said. “Getting a ceasefire, stopping hostilities and the troop withdrawal in eight days, that’s quite a lot already. We’ll have to see. We have to take stock of the situation.”

Moscow, which has pulled back the bulk of its forces from central and western Georgia, says the residual troops are peacekeepers needed to avert further bloodshed. But Georgia and the West object to the scale of the Russian-imposed buffer zone adjoining the two rebel regions, which hands Mos-cow pressure points on key oil and trade routes through Georgia to the Black Sea.

Formal recognition by Russia of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, would put it on a collision course with the US and other Western nations.