West awaits Medvedev word on Georgia rebel areas

By Matt Robinson

TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia and its Western allies waited on Tuesday to hear if Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would recognise Georgia's separatist regions as independent, a move Washington has warned would be unacceptable.

In a sign of the fragility of the ceasefire declared after Russian troops marched into the pro-Western state, Georgian and separatist forces were in a tense standoff over a disputed village on the fringes of breakaway South Ossetia.

The two houses of Russia's parliament adopted non-binding resolutions on Monday urging Medvedev to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and the second Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia.

But the Kremlin leader issued no response to the unanimous votes in parliament.

U.S. President George W. Bush said he was deeply concerned by the parliamentary votes. He urged Russia's leaders not to recognize the regions, which broke with Tbilisi after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as independent.

Senior officials of the world's leading industrial nations, the Group of Seven, also expressed alarm at the move.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief war over South Ossetia earlier this month after Tbilisi sent in troops to try to retake the province by force. Russia struck back with a massive Russian counter-attack by land, sea and air.

Russia has pulled out the bulk of its forces, but it has alarmed the West by stationing some troops deep inside Georgia's heartland on what it has called a peacekeeping mission.