MOSCOW - Russia on Wednesday announced closer links with two separatist regions in neighbouring Georgia, prompting an emergency meeting of top officials in Tbilisi.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to intensify cooperation with Abkhazia and South Ossetia and recognise businesses and organisations registered in the two territories, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Abkhaz and South Ossetian officials said the moves were a significant step towards recognising the independence of their regions, which Georgia's government has vowed to bring back under central control.
Russia has redoubled support for the separatists in its pro-Western neighbour Georgia in response to Western recognition of Kosovo as an independent nation.
Moscow has vehemently opposed Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia.
In its statement the foreign ministry said Putin had ordered Russia's government to support Abkhazia and South Ossetia in trade and economics, social services, culture and education.
The order was intended to pave the way for "mechanisms for the complete protection of the rights, freedoms and legal interests" of Russian citizens living in the regions, the statement said.
The declaration came a month after Russia dropped years of sanctions against Abkhazia, opening the way to a significant increase in trade links and sparking condemnation from Georgia.
Having broken from central Georgian control during wars in the early 1990s, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are economically dependent on Russia. Most residents in both areas have been given Russian citizenship.
Pro-Western Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has long accused the Kremlin of stirring up separatism, convened the national security council to discuss the Russian moves, Georgia's foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
"Without formally recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russia is taking steps that lead to the de facto annexation of Georgian territories," the chairman of the Georgian parliament's foreign relations committee, Kote Gabashvili, said in remarks on Georgian Public Television.
Georgia's fragmented status was one reason given by some members of the NATO military alliance at a meeting this month in Bucharest for delaying Georgian entry to the alliance, something Moscow strongly proposes.
Officials in the two separatist administrations welcomed Russia's latest gesture, with Abkhaz foreign minister Sergei Shamba describing the measures as a "very important" step.
"Effectively, all that remains now are the final steps on the road to recognition of our independence," he told journalists in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi.
South Ossetia's foreign minister Murat Dzhioyev described the move as the "beginning of the recognition" of the two regions, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The Russian foreign ministry, however, said its actions were aimed only at "strengthening security and stability in the Caucasus region."
The statement added: "Our actions in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia do not mean that Russia is choosing confrontation with Georgia."
ib-im-ch/njc/gh
04/16/2008 15:23 GMT