Russia moved closer to recognizing the independence of two breakaway republics that helped spark the current conflict in Georgia, and outlined plans for a major military presence in and around the contested territories that would further undermine Georgia's sovereignty.
Coming over vociferous objections from the U.S. and Europe, the Russian moves highlight the West's limited leverage over the Kremlin in the current crisis, which escalated earlier this month when Russia sent troops into Georgia.Russian legislators on Wednesday said they expect the Kremlin-controlled parliament to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, two pro-Russian republics that have long wished to break away from Georgia. Both houses of Russia's parliament are likely to hold special sessions early next week at which the independence issue could be discussed, legislators said.
A senior Russian general, meanwhile, said Russian troops are setting up a "buffer zone" around South Ossetia with eight military posts on the territory of Georgian itself. Russia's military also wants to enforce a no-fly zone over the area for Georgian planes, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy head of Russia's General Staff, said at a news briefing. Georgian authorities, meanwhile, reported that Russian forces are building what appears to be a permanent checkpoint outside the strategically important Black Sea port of Poti.
Georgian Deputy Defense Minister Batu Kutelia called Russia's buffer-zone plans a "totally illegal and illegitimate move" that would violate a peace plan Russia and Georgia signed last week.
"What they are striving to do is by military means to achieve a political goal-to paralyze and asphyxiate the country," he said. "This is not a military or peacekeeping move, it's about destroying the sovereignty of a neighboring country."
Russia has long stationed peace-keeping troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia but earlier this month sent in thousands more after Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia. Moscow signed a French-sponsored peace deal last week, but so far has been slow to fulfill its provisions calling for troop withdrawal.
Recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia independent republics could deepen Russia's isolation, since few other nations are likely to follow. But it would free Russia to keep as many troops as it likes in the regions, and to build more permanent military bases there.
Konstantin Zatulin, a senior legislator from the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, said Moscow should keep at least 3,000 troops permanently deployed in each of the separatists republics. He said about 15,000 are in Georgia now.
Russia in the past has hesitated to recognize the republics as independent, in part because it didn't want to be the only country to do so, he noted.
But Georgia's invasion of South Ossetia this month has left Russia no choice, he said, adding that he doesn't "have any doubts" that parliament will pass such a decision. He said he believed Belarus and some of Russia's allies in Central Asia may also decide to back independence for the republics.
Reiterating past bids, Abkhazia's parliament on Wednesday again asked Russia to recognize its independence.
"After the blood that has been shed in South Ossetia, we are once more convinced that we cannot live together with Georgia," Sergei Shamba, Abkhazia's foreign minister, said in an interview in Sukhumi Wednesday.
He said that Russia earlier this year had about 3,000 peacekeepers in Abkhazia, but this month increased its total presence in the region to 9,000 troops. "I don't think we'll continue to have 9,000 Russian troops in Abkhazia, but we certainly want there to be a sufficient number to protect us from any attack by Georgia," he said.
M. Shamba added that Abkhazia would like Russian troops to take over two military bases that the Soviets abandoned in the early 1990s, including a major port at Ocamcire.
Declaring Abkhazia and South Ossetia independent from Georgia would mark a major turnaround for Russia. In February, as the U.S. considered recognizing Kosovo's independence, then-president Vladimir Putin said Russians wouldn't "ape" the West and do the same for Georgia's breakaway republics. "If someone makes a bad, illegal decision, it doesn't mean we have to do the same," he said.
If Russia undermines Georgia's territorial integrity by recognizing the provinces, the European Union would obviously declare its discontent, EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said. "We can't send stormtroopers, but we have a trade and economic policy we can discuss. We are an economic force," he said.
The EU's apparent last line of leverage is still an emergency summit that French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he could call in early September to discuss ways of punishing Russia, including withdrawing support for Moscow's World Trade Organization membership or pulling out of trade and investment treaty negotiations.
The EU would be unanimous in condemning Russian recognition of the provinces, EU officials said. "International law says it's insufficient for one state to simply recognize another," said Vahur Soosaar, an Estonian official in Brussels. "There are rules. There has to be a wide consensus."