Russia heads for conflict with Georgia

Moscow has given its open support to the breakaway Georgian republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, setting it on a collision course with the Tblisi government, writes Le Monde.

The paper says that president Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to “cooperate with the de facto rulers” in the two regions, which have a largely Russian population – a direct response to the declaration of independence by Kosovo, which Moscow had opposed.

“Our actions…do not mean that Russsia wants conflict with Georgia,” one Russian diplomat told the paper, but Georgia is highly sceptical, calling the move “an attempt to legalise the annexation of two Georgian regions” and “a violation of all international laws”.

Nato secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on Russia to back down, while the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Javier Solana, expressed his support for “the territorial integrity of Georgia”.

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