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TSKHINVALI, Georgia: Georgia's South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions planned rallies Thursday to ask Russia for recognition as independent states, two weeks after Russian troops occupied both provinces.
The street demonstrations aimed to put a popular stamp on appeals made Wednesday by the separatist leaderships for Moscow to recognise their self-declared independence.
And Russia -- whose army remains entrenched after last week's battle to annihilate the last Georgian military presence -- hinted strongly Wednesday that the rebels' wishes may be granted.
Russia's upper house of parliament is to consider the matter in emergency session Monday.
Recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia would threaten strongly pro-Western Georgia with dismemberment, potentially triggering the worst East-West diplomatic crisis since the Cold War ended.
Russian tanks poured into Georgia on August 8, initially to repel an attempt by Georgia's small, US-trained army to seize control of South Ossetia.
Troops then expelled Georgian forces from their last foothold in Abkhazia, occupied several strategic towns and roads, and systematically destroyed Georgian military facilities across the country.
Despite an increasingly loud Western outcry and a promise to adhere to a French-brokered withdrawal plan, Russian forces continue to roam at will across Georgia.
President Dmitry Medvedev says the pull-out will be complete by Friday.
But by Thursday there was still no sign of major withdrawal, as required under a French-brokered peace deal that also requires all Georgian troops to return to their permanent bases.
Troops backed by a tank continued to block a major road leading from the capital Tbilisi to South Ossetia, an AFP reporter said.
The current conflict is rooted in a bitter inter-ethnic struggle between Georgians and their Ossetian and Abkhaz minorities that dates back to the 1990s.
However the situation immediately spiralled into an international crisis when Russia intervened after the Georgian attack.
Russia backs the separatists and Western powers prize Georgia for access to Caspian Sea energy exports, as well as President Mikheil Saakashvili's bold reform programme.
Georgia is seeking NATO membership and until the conflict with Russia had been the third largest contributor of troops to the US operation in Iraq -- the 2,000 soldiers were hastily flown home, too late to join the brief conflict.
So far Western capitals have shown little leverage over Russia, a major energy exporter to Europe and an important player on major international issues including the Iranian nuclear programme controversy.
Many in Russia's political establishment see stripping Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia as a tit-for-tat response to the West's pushing through of independence this year for Kosovo from Serbia.
NATO slammed Moscow this week over the failure to withdraw promptly and said that "business as usual" was no longer possible.
On Wednesday, Russia told Norway that Moscow had decided to freeze military cooperation with the alliance "until further notice," the Norwegian foreign ministry said.
United States President George W. Bush, meanwhile, repeated that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are "part of Georgia," adding that "the world must stand for freedom" in the ex-Soviet republic.
The crisis appeared to have accelerated a decision by Poland to accept deployment by the United States of an US anti-missile shield -- another issue putting Washington at loggerheads with Moscow.
Russia reacted to the signing of the deal Wednesday by warning of a new arms race in Europe "and beyond its borders."
Meanwhile, the State Department announced separately that Turkey had approved transit of two US navy ships into the Black Sea to transport humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia.
The vessels were to include two US Navy ships and a US Coast Guard cutter, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.
Their mission will test the Russians' promise to relinquish control over Georgia, including over the major commercial port of Poti on the Black Sea.
- AFP/ir
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