Georgia breakaway provinces eye Kosovo as precedent

By Oleg Shchedrov

MOSCOW, June 4 (Reuters) - The leaders of Georgia's separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia appealed to the United Nations on Monday to put them in line for international recognition after Serbia's breakaway province of Kosovo.

Abkhazia's Sergei Bagapsh and South Ossetia's Eduard Kokoity also said they hoped for stronger support from their patron Russia now that it finds itself increasingly at odds with the West.

"If Kosovo is separated from Serbia and its independence is recognised, one more powerful proof will emerge that ethnic conflicts can be solved on principles other than a respect for territorial integrity," they said in a statement released after a regular meeting in Moscow.

"Abkhazia and South Ossetia have just as strong grounds to demand independence as Kosovo," added the statement, which was addressed to the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Concerns that a Western push to in effect grant independence to predominantly Albanian Kosovo could create a dangerous precedent are the main reason why Russia has resisted attempts to authorise such a decision in the U.N. Security Council. Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s after wars with Tbilisi, want their independence to be recognised internationally. They say U.N. approval of Kosovo's independence could help their cause.

"Whether or not Kosovo is granted independence, we will not give up our fight," Bagapsh told a news conference. "But a solution of the (Kosovo) problem will speed up the process." Moscow played a key role in ending the conflicts in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and keeps peacekeepers in both regions, which remain outside Tbilisi's control.

Georgia, whose pro-Western government is at odds with Moscow, accuses Russia of trying to annex the regions and demands that Russian peacekeepers be removed. It rules out independence for Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Although Russia is the main political and economic backer of the two regions, where most people hold Russian passports, it has so far refrained from recognising their independence or considering their requests to join Russia.

But Kokoity said growing tensions between Moscow and the West over U.S. plans to deploy parts of a missile defence system in central Europe could change Russia's mind.

"We are watching the situation and we believe Moscow will not remain indifferent to what is happening and what precedents are being created when major deals are violated by the West," he said.

Kokoity said that the interest expressed by some Georgian officials in hosting parts of the U.S. missile shield could increase Abkhazia and South Ossetia's value to Moscow.

"When Russia sees missiles deployed close to its borders, it should understand that (the territories of) South Ossetia and Abkhazia could be used against its interEsts," he said.