MOSCOW - Russia's parliament sought on Friday to cut power supplies to energy-starved Georgia for failing to destroy Chechen bases, defying sharp U.S. criticism of Kremlin threats to hit rebel camps in the neighbouring state.
Russian media buzzed with talk of a "deal" under which Moscow would lift its objections to U.S. military strikes on Iraq if given U.S. leave to hit Chechen guerrillas in Georgia.
But Washington has so far rejected Moscow's attempts to equate Chechen militants with the al Qaeda network, hunted by U.S. forces in Afghanistan as part of the "war on terrorism" launched after last September's attacks on the United States.
Russian President Vladimir Putin wrote to world leaders on Thursday warning them that Moscow might attack Chechen guerrilla bases in Georgia unless Tbilisi acted to destroy the rebels, who are said to have bases in the remote Pankisi Gorge.
That brought swift overnight condemnation from Washington, reaffirmed on Friday by Undersecretary of State John Bolton.
"I don't see that there are really any quid pro quos to be had (on Iraq), whether with Russia or others," he told a Moscow news conference.
A State Duma lower house of parliament resolution hailed Putin's stance and said Russia should reconsider "economic aid to Georgia, including the supply of energy at favourable rates, given the failure of the Georgian leadership to take effective measures to fight international terrorism on its territory".
"Russia has the right under U.N. rules to use preventive measures against the country from which the threat comes", said Gennady Raikov, leader of the leftist People's Deputy group in the Duma. "That means bombing those camps and bases".
Gas supplies to Georgia were cut last winter over payment arrears which total $90 million. The volatile, impoverished state also owes Russia $40 million for electricity supplies.
The debts represent a large chunk of its $572 million 2002 budget, and Georgia has complained that Russia uses its energy supplies to bully its tiny southern neighbour.
IMPERIAL IMPATIENCE?
Russia, the former imperial power, is incensed that Georgia has failed to oust Chechen guerrillas from Pankisi Gorge and rebuffed its offers to do the job for them.
It mocks as a publicity stunt Tbilisi's dispatch of 1,000
police to the region last month, and views with suspicion a U.S. programme to train Georgian forces to clear the gorge.
Georgy Gachechiladze, Georgia's economy and trade minister, said sanctions would be "very difficult for us as Russia is our biggest trade partner....But I really hope (the Duma) won't take such a stupid step."
The non-binding Duma resolution, due for a vote around 1300 GMT, would boost Putin, whose pro-Western policies since last September's strikes on U.S. targets have irked many Russians.
Nationalists and conservatives complain Putin has yet to produce concrete rewards.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has not yet responded to Moscow's second public chiding by the United States over Georgia in a month. In August, the White House accused Russia of bombing a village near Pankisi Gorge. Moscow denied the charge.
In Tbilisi, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze welcomed the strong U.S. support: "It was not unexpected that after Putin's statement U.S. reaction would be strong, principled and in support of Georgian interests."
Despite the recriminations, Russia's Izvestia daily said Bush and Putin were unlikely to "come to blows" over Georgia.
"There's Iraq, al Qaeda has yet to be destroyed, Afghanistan is not completely pacified. Also on the agenda there is Iran, North Korea and a lot of other problem states on which (the United States) will have to come to an agreement with Russia". /Reuters/ - [13 Sep 2002]
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