Putin accuses U.S. of provoking Georgia crisis

By Denis Dyomkin and Francois Murphy

DUSHANBE/PARIS (Reuters) - Russia faced increased diplomatic isolation over its military action against Georgia on Thursday, with its Asian allies failing to offer support and France saying EU leaders were considering sanctions.

Moscow accused the West of heightening tension by a naval build-up in the Black Sea, and said talk of punishing Russia for recognizing the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions was the product of a "sick" and "confused" imagination.

Russia's powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a CNN interview he suspected someone in the United States had provoked the Georgia conflict to make the situation more tense and create "a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of U.S. president." He did not elaborate.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Putin's allegations were "patently false" and the U.S. State Department said it was "ludicrous" for the Russians to say they were not responsible for what had happened in Georgia.

Moscow has defied pressure from the United States and European powers to pull out of Georgia and looked east to its Asian allies, including China, for support at a regional summit.

The grouping, meeting in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, repeated a regular call for the "respect of territorial integrity" and did not follow Russia's lead on recognizing the two breakaway regions of Georgia.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Russia's closest ex-Soviet ally, said the Kremlin "had no other moral choice but to" recognize the Georgian regions. Russian agencies quoted his ambassador to Moscow as saying Minsk could soon follow suit, but the embassy later said his comments had been misinterpreted.

The crisis flared early this month when Georgian forces tried to retake the separatist province of South Ossetia and Russia launched an overwhelming counter-attack.

Russian forces swept the Georgian army out of the rebel region and are still occupying some areas of Georgia proper. On Tuesday Moscow announced that it was recognizing South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

SANCTIONS LOOM

The United States and Europe have demanded Russia respect a French-brokered ceasefire and withdraw all its troops from Georgia, including a disputed buffer zone imposed by Moscow.

France, the current EU president, has called a meeting of EU leaders on Monday to discuss the Georgian crisis, and its Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told reporters that "sanctions are being considered and many other means as well."

But diplomats said that, though EU nations were united in condemning Russia's recognition move, they were mostly reluctant to impose tough sanctions on Moscow.

"I do not think there is unanimous appetite for it (imposing sanctions on Russia)," said one EU diplomat after a meeting on Thursday of ambassadors from the bloc's 27 states.

The United States, Georgia's closest Western ally, said it was premature to say whether it would consider sanctions against Russia, White House spokeswoman Perino told reporters.  Continued...