Putin brands Georgian crisis a US-led conspiracy

RUSSIA:RUSSIAN PRIME minister Vladimir Putin has accused unnamed US figures of provoking the Georgian conflict to influence their forthcoming presidential election, as Moscow slipped deeper into diplomatic isolation over its recognition of independence for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

China and four of the Kremlin's closest Central Asian allies declined to endorse Tuesday's decision by Moscow on the status of the rebel Georgian regions, dashing Russian hopes of forging a broad alliance to counter blanket western condemnation of the move.

And as US and Russian warships maintained positions barely 250km (155 miles) apart in the Black Sea, Nato denied building up its navy in the region, while Moscow test-fired a long-range Topol rocket designed to evade missile defence systems. Russia has vowed a military response to Washington's plans to build such a system in Poland and the Czech Republic.

"It is not just that the American side could not restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal act. The American side in effect armed and trained the Georgian army," Mr Putin said in a television interview.

"The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president."

Political analysts suggest that a prolonged international crisis would favour the more experienced John McCain - a Republican like incumbent George W Bush - over the younger Democrat Barack Obama, who currently holds a narrow lead in most polls.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino called the claim "not rational".

Mr Putin spoke after his protege, president Dmitry Medvedev, failed to win support for Russia's position in Georgia at a Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) summit comprising Chinese and Central Asian leaders in the ex-Soviet republic of Tajikistan.

"The SCO states express grave concern in connection with the recent tensions around the South Ossetian issue and urge the sides to solve existing problems peacefully, through dialogue, and to make efforts facilitating reconciliation and talks," the summit's closing statement read.

While China is always wary of separatist issues, fearing fallout in its own restive regions like Tibet and Xinjiang, Russia will have been irked by the refusal of usually obedient allies Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to praise its actions in Georgia or recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Their show of reticence comes after Belarus, another close friend of Moscow, only lauded intervention in Georgia after being chided by its Russian ambassador. Minsk has also declined to acknowledge any change in the two regions' status, however.

Ahead of Monday's emergency summit of EU leaders, France said the council would consider sanctions against Russia, while the Group of Seven richest nations condemned Moscow's "continued occupation of Georgia".

Russian troops still hold positions well inside Georgia, three weeks after they crushed Tbilisi's attempt to regain control of South Ossetia.

Georgia called the Russian actions an invasion, while Moscow says it was only protecting its citizens, having given most South Ossetians and Abkhaz passports. At least several hundred people were killed and tens of thousands displaced by the fighting.

Nato denied massing warships in the Black Sea in response to the conflict, amid Russian claims that 18 of its vessels were in the region or on the way there.

Moscow said yesterday that it had test-fired an RS-12M Topol missile, called the "SS-25 Sickle" by Nato, which has a maximum range of 10,000km (6,213 miles).