MOSCOW – Russia stunned the West yesterday by recognizing the independence claims of two Georgian breakaway regions, and US warships plied the waters off of Georgia in a gambit the Kremlin saw as gunboat diplomacy.
The announcement by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ignored the strong opposition of Europe and the United States, and signaled the Kremlin’s determination to control its neighbors even at the risk of closing its doors to the West.
“We are not afraid of anything, including the prospect of a Cold War,” President Dmitry Medvedev said hours after announcing the Kremlin’s decision and one day after Parliament had supported the recognition.
While the risk of a military clash with the West seemed remote, experts are concerned about the lack of high-level public diplomacy between the White House and the Kremlin – adding to an uneasy sense here at least of an escalating crisis.
Medvedev also promised a Russian military response to a US missile defense system in Europe. Washington says the system would counter threats from Iran and North Korea, but Russia says it is aimed at blunting Russian nuclear capability.
The Kremlin’s recognition of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia suggested it was willing to risk nearly two decades of economic, political and diplomatic bonds with its Cold War antagonists.
“Russia’s action only exacerbates tensions and complicates diplomatic negotiations,” Bush said in a statement from his ranch in Texas.
Medvedev’s grim announcement, carried on national television, inspired jubilation on the streets of the rebel capitals. In the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali, a parade of cars bearing the South Ossetian and Russian flags blared their horns, women cried for joy and gunmen fired their weapons in the air.
The United States, surprised by the speed of the Russian response, threatened a veto in the UN Security Council should Russia ask for international recognition for the territories.
“Abkhazia and South Ossetia are a part of the internationally recognized borders of Georgia and it’s going to remain so,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. President Bush called the Russian move “irresponsible.”
As the West focused on Russia’s effort to shift Georgia’s internationally recognized borders, the Kremlin denounced the US use of a Navy destroyer and Coast Guard cutter to deliver aid to Georgia’s Black Sea coast.
“Normally battleships do not deliver aid,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dryly told reporters in English. AP