RUSSIA:PRESIDENT Dmitry Medvedev's surprise decision to recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia was met with cries of joy in the breakaway territories, dismay in Tbilisi and deep unease among Russia's neighbours in eastern Europe.
In Sukhumi, Abkhazia's seaside capital, Maxim Gunjia, the deputy foreign minister, said that the "people were celebrating in the streets".
In Tskhinvali, South Ossetia's war-torn centre, reporters said the air was filled with the demonstrators marking independence by firing Kalashnikovs and hunting guns. However, in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, officials condemned the Russian decision as "unconcealed annexation".
Their concern was shared by other former Soviet Union countries. They fear that Moscow is intent on reasserting its influence in the region and argue that, having sent its troops into Georgia, Russia could find it easier to resort to military intervention in other political hot spots.
In a statement, Ukraine's foreign ministry cancelled a junior minister's planned visit to Moscow, condemned Russia and questioned whether Moscow's actions amounted to a plan to turn its "neighbours into a military training ground" to pursue its foreign policies.
Leaders in the Baltic states, small countries that feel exposed to Russian pressure as the only ex-Soviet republics to join Nato and the European Union, urged the west to defend Georgia's territorial integrity. They fear that a failure to block Russia in Georgia may make it more difficult to stop the Kremlin interfering elsewhere.
But Mr Medvedev denied the action set any precedents for other trouble spots in the former Soviet Union: "As far as involvement in other conflicts is concerned, we naturally are not going to do this (offer military support)."
However, in words that do not reassure Moscow's neighbours, he added: "But Russia is a state which has to ensure its interests along the whole length of its border, this is absolutely clear."
Ukraine heads the list of states that see themselves open to interference. Conflict is growing over Sevastopol, the Ukrainian port which is home to the Russian Black Sea fleet under a lease that ends in 2017. Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president, wants the fleet out when the deal expires. The Kremlin will be loath to pull out, especially if Mr Yushchenko pursues plans to join Nato.
In Moldova, there is a frozen conflict between the authorities and the Russia-oriented breakaway region of Transdniestra, dating back to a 1992 civil war. The Kremlin has tried to trade its dominant voice in Transdniestra for bigger influence in the country.
Further north, Russia treats Belarus as a vassal under Alexander Lukashenko, its dictatorial president. Past plans for a Russia-Belarus merger have come to little, but the Kremlin may decide that it now has the muscle and the will to revisit the issue. Russian officials noted that Mr Lukashenko was irritatingly slow to praise its actions in South Ossetia.
In the Baltic states, officials have kept an eye on what they see as Russian attempts at interference in everything from energy supplies to local politics. The Kremlin, for its part, accuses local leaders of discriminating against ethnic Russians.
Tempers flared last year when Estonia moved a Soviet war memorial, triggering riots in which one man died. - (Financial Times service)