TBILISI/DUSHANBE—Russia on Thursday faced diplomatic isolation over its military action against Georgia and accused the West of heightening tension by a naval build-up in the Black Sea.
The Group of Seven rich nations condemned Moscow's "continued occupation of Georgia" and a group of Asian allies led by China failed to follow Russia's lead on independence for two breakaway regions of Georgia.
The crisis flared early this month when Russia launched an overwhelming counter-attack after Georgia tried to retake by force its breakaway province of South Ossetia.
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 recognising South Ossetia and another separatist region, Abkhazia, as independent states.
Two U.S. warships are already in the Black Sea off the coast of Georgia to show support for their ally and Washington has ordered the flagship of its Sixth Fleet, the sophisticated joint command ship Mount Whitney, to the area, saying it will deliver humanitarian supplies.
Moscow expressed alarm at a naval buildup in an area normally dominated by its southern fleet.
"The appearance of NATO battleships here in the Black Sea basin...and the decision to deliver humanitarian aid (to Georgia) using NATO battleships is something that can hardly be explained," Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's chief spokesman said in a teleconference with correspondents on Wednesday evening.
"Let us hope...that we do not see any direct confrontation."
NATO insists the only Black Sea presence under the auspices of the Western military alliance is a group of four warships–one Spanish, one German, one Polish and one American–which are on a long-planned routine exercise.
"There is certainly no NATO build-up in the Black Sea", Commander Kevan McHale at NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) said on Thursday.
"Devilish"
Russia's deputy chief of the General Staff, Col-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn, has spoken of up to 18 NATO vessels being in or expected in the Black Sea and attacked the use of warships to deliver aid to Georgia as "devilish".
Russia's navy has responded by sending the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, the guided missile cruiser Moskva, to the Abkhaz port of Sukhumi, less than 200 km (120 miles) to the north of where the two U.S. warships are sailing.
On the diplomatic front, Moscow faced difficulties in winning support for its position on Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as normally reliable allies shied away from recognising the two rebel regions as independent states.
No other country has recognised the territories since Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree doing so on Tuesday. The United States and European powers immediately condemned the move, saying it violated international law.
Even China, which often sides with Russia in diplomatic disputes, issued a veiled criticism of Moscow's actions, saying it was "concerned about the latest changes in South Ossetia and Abkhazia" and calling for dialogue to resolve the issue.
Kazakhstan, a Central Asian oil and gas powerhouse which is normally close to Moscow, said it was too early to think about recognition.
Medvedev had hoped to drum up support for his action at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group linking Moscow with China and four ex-Soviet Central Asian states.
But despite his call to fellow leaders, none has mentioned the Georgia crisis in speeches.
The SCO summit was working on a cautious declaration on Thursday, welcoming a six-point ceasefire mediated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to stop the war in Georgia. A draft resolution made no mention of recognition of the rebel provinces.
The United States and European powers have demanded Russia respect the French-brokered ceasefire and withdraw all its troops from Georgia, including a Moscow-imposed buffer zone whose legitimacy is disputed.
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.
