Medvedev joined Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of , , and for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, set up in 2001 to counter NATO influence in
The summit opened after the Group of Seven industrialised powers strongly condemned ‘s recognition of ‘s rebel regions
"We deplore ‘s excessive use of military force in and its continued occupation of parts of ," said the statement from , , , , , and the .
lashed out at the West for ratcheting up tensions in the Black Sea and warned that attempts to isolate
A new protest came from Georgian ex-president Eduard Shevardnadze, who said would regret its recognition of the regions.
"They will live to regret it," Shevardnadze said in an interview with ‘s Asahi Shimbun newspaper, adding that the move would "encourage separatist movements within ethnically diverse ."
Shevardnadze called for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in ‘s Black Sea resort of
On a visit to , British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned not to start a new Cold War.
But he also conceded that isolating would be counterproductive because the West relied on cooperation with
"The Russian president says he is not afraid of a new Cold War. We don’t want one," Miliband said in an address to students in
"He has a big responsibility not to start one," he added.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke by telephone with his Georgian and Russian counterparts on Wednesday, pursuing diplomatic efforts to shore up a fragile six-point ceasefire plan he brokered this month.
The French presidency said Sarkozy had spoken "at length" with Medvedev and "underlined the urgent neccesity to lower tension and to fully apply the six points of the ceasefire agreement."
"Of course we’re going to discuss it. That doesn’t mean we’re going to force people to recognise" the independence of Abkhazia and
Russian officials said they were monitoring a growing NATO naval presence in the Black Sea, as the second of three ships sent to deliver aid arrived in .
"Certainly some measures of precaution are being taken," said a spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov. "It’s not a common practice to deliver humanitarian aid using battleships."
In a reminder of ‘s energy muscle, he also warned against trying to isolate
"Any attempts to jeopardise this atmosphere of cooperation… would not only (have) a negative impact for but will definitely harm the economic interests of those states," Peskov said.
moved its own naval forces to the Abkhaz
In
No confirmation of such a move was forthcoming from the Russian side.
Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili told AFP that
In the Georgian