Georgia demands Russia drop pro-rebel plans

Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:19am EDT

(Changes headline, recasts, adds comments, details)

By Niko Mchedlishvili

TBILISI, April 17 (Reuters) - Georgia on Thursday demanded Russia drop plans to forge closer ties with two rebel regions of Georgia and urged the international community to help it put pressure on Moscow.

"We demand that Russia cancel all the decisions which breach the sovereignty of Georgia," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told a cabinet meeting.

Foreign Minister David Bakradze called for a special debate by the U.N. Security Council to discuss the moves, which are likely to become a new irritant in relations between Russia and Western nations.

Russia said on Wednesday it would establish legal links with Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which border Russia in the Caucasus.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to recognise some documents issued by the separatist authorities and cooperate with them on trade and other issues, provoking a sharp reaction from NATO, the European Union and United States.

Saakashvili, whose relations with Moscow are strained, praised the NATO secretary-general for calling on Moscow to overturn its planned measures.

"NATO and the international community also demand not just to soften this move but to revise it and cancel it. This is extremely important," Saakashvili said.

The United States and key European Unions nations are closely allied to Georgia and suspect Russia of trying to punish the small Caucasus state for its bid to join NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Russia to reverse the moves while a senior U.S. official said Moscow was engaging in "political mischief".

Georgia said that apart from a special UN meeting to discuss Russia's decision, it would also use the little-used Berlin mechanisn to seek a special meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Andrew Roche)

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