Medvedev looks east for support on Georgia
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev looked east on Thursday for support for Moscow's tough line over Georgia, which has inflamed relations with the West and prompted talk of a new Cold War.
China says defence budget to riseThe Kremlin leader flew to Tajikistan for a summit of a regional security forum with China and four Central Asian states at which the crisis in Georgia was likely to be discussed.
Moscow's allies in the former Soviet Union, Asia and elsewhere usually side with the Kremlin against the West on contentious issues, but have been notable for their silence since Russia fought a brief war with Georgia this month.
Citing the need to avert a "genocide" against civilians, Moscow sent troops and tanks into Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia and a second pro-Moscow region, Abkhazia, this month.
On Tuesday the Kremlin recognised them as independent states, prompting Georgia to withdraw all but two of its diplomats from Moscow. The Georgian parliament was to debate the future of ties with its giant northern neighbour on Thursday.
Georgia's close ally, the United States, and European powers have demanded Russia respect a French-brokered ceasefire and withdraw all its troops from Georgia, including a Moscow-imposed buffer zone whose legitimacy is disputed.
The Group of Seven rich nations, in a joint statement on Wednesday, also condemned Russia's recognition of Georgia's rebel regions and what it described as its excessive use of military force in Georgia.
Analysts see Moscow's actions as a bid to halt expanding Western influence in the Caucasus, a major oil and gas transit route from the Caspian Sea to the West that bypasses Russia.
The biggest prize for Russia would be to win the support of China when Medvedev meets President Hu Jintao at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Tajik capital Dushanbe.
SEPARATIST FEARS
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