MOSCOW, Aug 27 (AFP): Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao Wednesday, as Moscow looked to bolster support in a diplomatic stand-off with the West over its conflict with Georgia.
Western governments roundly condemned Russia's decision to formally recognise the independence of the Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Medvedev was to fly to the Central Asian republic of Tajikistan for talks with Hu on the eve of a regional summit Thursday that officials have said could address the Georgia crisis.
Stepping up its criticism of Moscow, France said Russia was "outside international law", with Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner asserting the European Union "cannot accept these violations."
In a sombre television address on Tuesday, Medvedev announced he had signed decrees recognising the independence of the two regions at the heart of the conflict that erupted this month in Georgia.
The move was seen as cementing Russia's military gains in the Caucasus following the five-day conflict with Georgian forces.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili assailed the Russian move as an "attempt to wipe Georgia from the map" and promised to wage a "peaceful struggle" to win back the territories.
In an unprecedented move for the Kremlin, Medvedev gave a string of interviews to Western media outlets to explain Russia's actions, speaking to CNN, Al Jazeera and the Financial Times among others.
"The most important thing is to defend the rights of the people who live in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," he told BBC, hours after announcing recognition of the two regions' independence.
Medvedev is to join leaders on Thursday for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement, a regional security group dominated by Russia and China that includes four former Soviet Central Asian countries.
The Kremlin decision was greeted with bursts of gunfire on the streets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as locals danced and embraced to celebrate a move many saw as a historic liberation from Georgian influence.
Russia seeks to "break the Georgian state, undermine the fundamental values of Georgia and to wipe Georgia fron the map," he said.
"This is the first attempt in Europe after Nazi Germany and the Stalinist Soviet Union to put a neighbouring state on its knees and to change the borders of Europe by force," he said.
In a sign of a growing chill with the West, Russia's ambassador to NATO announced Moscow was suspending cooperation with the Western alliance but that it would not pull out of an agreement to help stabilise Afghanistan.
Meanwhile another report from Batumi adds, a US military ship Wednesday docked at the Georgian port of Batumi to bring humanitarian aid following a devastating war with Russia earlier this month.
The move comes after amid escalating tensions between Russia and Georgia's Western allies. The United States and European nations have assailed Russia's recognition of two Georgian territories as separate nations following the fighting.Moscow has criticized the US for bringing humanitarian aid into Georgia on military ships.
A US Embassy spokesman meanwhile said they had erroneously told The Associated Press that the US Coast Guard cutter, the Dallas, would dock in Poti, a Black Sea port city still patrolled by Russian forces. Batumi is well south of the zone of fighting.
Poti's port reportedly suffered heavy damage from the Russian military. In addition, Russian troops have established checkpoints on the northern approach to the city and a US ship docking there could have been seen as a direct challenge.
Many of the Russian forces that drove deep into Georgia after fighting broke out Aug. 7 in the separatist region of South Ossetia have pulled back, but hundreds at least are estimated to still be manning checkpoints that Russia calls "security zones" inside Georgia proper.
Two of those checkpoints are near the edge of Poti, one of Georgia's most important Black Sea ports. The Russian military also is claiming the right to patrol in the city.
Georgian officials have said much of the port's infrastructure - radar, Coast Guard ships and other equipment - was destroyed by the Russians.
In a move that angered Russia, the US sent the missile destroyer USS McFaul to Batumi to deliver 34 tons of humanitarian aid on Sunday.
The McFaul left Batumi on Tuesday but would remain in the Black Sea area, said Commander Scott Miller, a spokesman for the US Navy's 6th Fleet in Naples, Italy.
