Russia recognises rebel regions of Georgia

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia is freezing cooperation with Nato in a number of areas to protest against the Western alliance’s stance on Georgia but will not halt assistance on Afghanistan, Russia’s Nato envoy said Tuesday.

Russia formally recognised the Georgian rebel regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states in a new challenge which angered the Western powers.

President Dmitry Medvedev’s declaration prompted bursts of celebratory gunfire in the streets of South Ossetia and Abkhazia but immediate censure from the United States and its allies.

“We’re not afraid of anything,” Medvedev declared when asked on television if he feared the stand-off would lead to a new Cold War. Russia condemned a build-up of NATO ships in the Black Sea, said by the West to be delivering aid and conducting previously arranged exercises.