MOSCOW, Aug 25: Moscow upped the ante in its standoff with the West on Monday after the Russian parliament voted to recognise two breakaway Georgian regions as independent nations, prompting Washington to come up with an unambiguous declaration that “Russia alone cannot decide the fate of Georgian regions” and that “all relationships (with Russia) are under review”. The Russian leadership stoked up the tension with belligerent statements _ President Dmitry Medvedev saying Moscow was ready to break with NATO and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin threatening to withdraw from some WTO trade accords.

Moscow’s military intervention in Georgia has particularly worried Europe and the European Union has called a special summit for next week while France expressed concern at reports of looting and intimidation in the flashpoint region of South Ossetia.

With Russian troops still deep in Georgia, both houses of the Russian parliament passed motions urging President Medvedev to recognise the independence of South Ossetia — where the conflict began this month — and Abkhazia.

The two regions are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, where Russian troops rolled in on Aug 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.

Addressing the Federation Council upper house, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said Russia had saved his region from “genocide”.

He asserted there was more political and legal legitimacy to recognising South Ossetia’s independence than there had been for Kosovo, the Serbian province which broke free with EU and US backing.

Abkhaz leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said: “Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will ever again live in one state with Georgia.”

The final decision on recognition rests with Mr Medvedev.

But he has already signalled his support for independence and on Monday he mentioned the South Ossetia case when he said a dispute with Moldova over the Transdniestr region could be settled.

Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin at a meeting at the Black Sea resort of Sochi that the dispute over Transdniestr, which lies on Moldova’s eastern edge and where there are Russian troops, should be viewed in the context of the Georgia conflict.

Events in South Ossetia showed “how dangerous such so-called frozen conflicts can be, given that the Georgian leadership, as they say, went crazy,” Medvedev said, according to Interfax news agency.

Transdniestr fought a brief independence war after the Soviet Union’s collapse, but is not internationally recognised.

The Russian parliament vote heightened international concern.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia was making “an attempt to change Europe’s borders by force”, in an interview with French newspaper Liberation.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the vote was “worrying” and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on him to be “particularly prudent” in his decision.

“That decision is not going to help things, it only adds to the tension in the region,” a British Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

The European Union signalled growing impatience with Russia when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a special European summit on the Georgia crisis for Sept 1.

A US destroyer, the USS McFaul, carrying relief supplies arrived at the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi on Sunday and in a new show of US support, the White House said Vice President Cheney would visit Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan next week.

Cheney will be the most senior US official to visit the region since the crisis erupted, plunging relations between Moscow and the West to their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.

Russia has accused NATO countries of using humanitarian aid as “cover” for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea.

Medvedev said Russia was prepared for a full break in relations with NATO, but urged the Western alliance to avert a rupture.

“We will take any decision, including up to a complete break in relations” if NATO decides to suspend cooperation with Russia, Medvedev was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Medvedev said Russia’s relations with NATO had become “complicated” over the Georgia conflict. “There has been a dramatic worsening of our relations, but we are not to blame,” he was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Adding to the diplomatic souring, Putin, his predecessor and mentor, said Russia had decided to withdraw from some agreements reached during negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation.—AFP