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MOSCOW : President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Sunday that Russia was ready to retaliate against sanctions, on the eve of European Union summit called to agree on a response to the Georgia conflict.
EU leaders are expected to call for a reappraisal of relations with Russia at their Brussels summit and agree on a series of measures to pile pressure on Moscow to withdraw all of its troops from Georgia.
"We are not advocates of sanctions and consider them to be a last resort," Medvedev said in an interview to Russian television.
Imposing sanctions requires the adoption of special laws, he said.
"If needed, we also can adopt such special laws," the president warned.
The French EU presidency has said sanctions were not being considered, but Russian leaders have nevertheless sought to quash appeals for drastic measures.
Medvedev also served notice that there was "no turning back" from his decision to recognise two Georgian secessionist regions as independent states, a move fiercely condemned by the West.
"I have taken this decision and there is no turning back," he said.
Russia is to sign agreements with Abkhazia and South Ossetia this week allowing Moscow to set up military bases and detail areas of cooperation.
"In these international accords we will define our obligations to provide aid: economic, social, humanitarian and military," Medvedev said.
Russian troops entered Georgia on August 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake the rebel enclave of South Ossetia, which broke away from Tbilisi in the 1990s with Moscow's backing.
Russian troops continue to hold positions in western Georgia, serving in what Moscow describes as a peacekeeping mission. Tbilisi has labelled them an occupation force.
Georgia is hoping that EU leaders will take a firm stance against Russian leaders following the military intervention this month in the former Soviet republic.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to rally across Georgia and in European cities Monday as EU leaders hold their summit.
Huge billboards reading "Stop Russia!" were being put up in Tbilisi on Sunday in advance of the event.
Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili warned of a "domino effect" in the Caucasus region and Ukraine and ruled out any talks with Moscow in the short term after Tbilisi broke off diplomatic relations.
"Russia's military hostility against the small state of Georgia could have a domino effect in other countries of the region like Ukraine," Tkeshelashvili said in Istanbul after meeting with Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown argued that Russia's military surge into Georgia and recognition of two Georgian rebel regions left EU leaders with little choice but to change course with Moscow.
"In the light of Russian actions, the EU should review - root and branch - our relationship with Russia," he wrote in a commentary published Sunday in London's Observer newspaper.
The prime minister said he had warned Medvedev in a telephone call Saturday "to expect a determined European response" to the situation in Georgia at the Brussels summit.
Brown called on EU leaders to agree on measures to reduce European dependency on Russian oil and gas and ensure Moscow cannot exert an "energy stranglehold" on its western neighbours.
Seeking to drum up support for Russia's stance, Medvedev spoke by phone with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is a close personal friend of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
Putin reiterated that Russia had acted "absolutely in accordance with international law in Georgia and suggested that EU leaders pushing for tough measures were serving US interests.
"Whatever happens and whatever is being said, truth is on our side," the former Kremlin leader said in an interview to Vesti-24 television.
"We acted absolutely and morally in accordance with international law".
"If some European countries want to serve someone else's foreign policy interests, then we can't stop them," said Putin.
Medvedev on Saturday urged European governments to send more observers to Georgia to monitor a ceasefire between Russian and Georgian forces, opening the door to cooperation with the EU to resolve the conflict.
The 56-nation Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe decided this month to send up to 100 observers to Georgia and some 20 observers are currently on the ground.
Bolstering OSCE monitoring in the security zone near South Ossetia and Abkhazia could help persuade Russia to leave positions it is still holding in western Georgia.
It would address Moscow's claims - repeated in the Kremlin statement on Saturday - that Georgia is rearming and could stage another attack under the orders of President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Russia is facing an avalanche of criticism from the West over its actions in Georgia and has responded with some vitriol of its own, aimed mostly at the United States, which strongly supports pro-Western Georgia.
US Vice President Dick Cheney is due to visit Tbilisi on Tuesday in the latest show of support for Georgia, which has waged an energetic campaign to join NATO despite Moscow's objections. - AFP/de
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