Russia must not start new Cold War: Britain

A Russian armoured vehicle leaves the tunnel in the territory of South Ossetia as it heads towards the Russian border, August 26, 2008.

KIEV (Reuters) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has a responsibility not to start a new Cold War, but relations with Moscow should be reviewed, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Wednesday.

Britain, which already has strained ties with Moscow over spy scandals, was among many countries to condemn Russia's recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on Tuesday.

"Critically, but also very very sadly Russia has not reconciled itself to the new map of this new region," Miliband told a group of students in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.

"The president of Russia has said he was not afraid of a new Cold War. We do not want a new Cold War and he has a big responsibility not to start one ... We need to raise the costs to Russia for disregarding its responsibility," he said.

Miliband said Russia's war with Georgia -- the first time Moscow sent armed forces beyond its borders since the breakup of the Soviet Union which included Georgia and Ukraine -- destroyed a "geo-political calm" in the region.

The United States has said Moscow risked achieving membership in the World Trade Organization and its membership of the Group of Eight nations, which Russia joined more than 10 years ago.

Miliband said Russia should stay within the G8, but relations should be re-examined.

"I do not apologize for rejecting knee-jerk calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8 or for EU-Russia relations to be broken. But we do need to examine the nature, depth and breadth of relations with Russia," he said.

He added there would be a conference call involving the foreign ministers of the G7 -- unprecedented since the G7 became the G8.

But he toned down comments he made on Tuesday which suggested creating a "coalition against Russian aggression", saying he was referring to the chorus of voices that condemned Russia's recognition of the two regions' independence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Tajik capital Dushanbe that Miliband was trying to have it both ways.

"Miliband suggests that on the one hand they should punish us, but only in such a way that the interests of Britain and other western countries do not suffer," Lavrov said.

"That is, they will take (natural) gas but only under conditions that they will themselves explain to Russia."

The European Union relies on Russia for about 25 percent of its gas needs and is keen to avoid over-reliance on Russian supplies, which have proven unreliable in the past.

The Swedish Defence Research Agency released a 10-year study in 2006 saying that of more than 55 known incidents where Russia interrupted oil and gas deliveries to foreign clients, at least 44 had punitive economic or political underpinnings.

Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Medvedev the presence of Russian troops in parts of Georgia was a grave violation of a ceasefire brokered by France a week and a half ago. Miliband matched the comments.

Russia's military launched an overwhelming counter-attack earlier this month after Georgia tried to regain control of South Ossetia by force and Moscow's troops are still occupying parts of Georgian territory.

Miliband repeated Britain's strong backing for Ukraine to join the NATO military alliance -- which Russia strongly opposes -- and the European Union.

(Additional reporting by Denis Dyomkin in Dushanbe)

(Editing by Dina Kyriakidou)