Russian MPs urge recognition of Georgia separatists

By Christian Lowe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's parliament on Friday urged the Kremlin to consider recognizing two separatist regions of Georgia, a move likely to anger Georgia and its Western allies who do not want the country broken up.

Lawmakers voted 440-0 to adopt a resolution on Georgia's Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions that also said Russia should look at speeding up sovereignty for them if pro-Western Georgia is put on the track to membership of NATO.

The resolution is not binding and the Kremlin has not expressed its view, but the vote could stoke Western concerns that Moscow will use Kosovo's independence -- which it opposed -- as a precedent to recognize separatists in its own back yard.

The vote came two weeks before a NATO summit in Bucharest at which President George W. Bush is expected to press for Georgia and ex-Soviet Ukraine to be set on the path to alliance membership, in defiance of Russian opposition.

"Lawmakers in the State Duma (parliament) ... address the Russian president and government with a proposal to consider the question of the expediency of recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia," said the resolution.

It was the Russian parliament's most explicit expression of support for the two regions' independence since they threw off Tbilisi's rule in separatist wars in the 1990s. They now run their own affairs but have no international recognition.

Russia provides financial support to the regions and many of their residents hold Russian passports. Tbilisi says they must remain part of Georgia, a stance backed by the United States and the European Union.

Georgia's parliament plans to make a statement about the resolution next week, but an ally of President Mikhail Saakashvili said the government would try to stop Russia's "open aggression".