Russia's parliament on Friday voted unanimously in favour of a resolution to recognize Georgia's two breakaway regions in a move that seems calculated to respond to the West's ratification of Kosovo's independence, according to DPA. "The State Duma deputies appeal to the Russian president and government ... to recognize sovereignty for the Abkhazia and South Ossetian regions," news agency Interfax quoted the statement as saying. Friday's draft resolution declares specifies that Moscow should expediate recognition of the two de-facto self-governing provinces if Georgia were to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The resolution pointed to Kosovo's independence as a legal precedent, saying that Abkhazia and South Ossetia have "built democratic states with more grounds to claim international recognition than Kosovo." Russia maintains that recognition of Kosovo's split from Serbia sunders international law, warning that it will lead to a "parade of sovereignty" in the Caucasus.
