Russia blocks U.N. Security Council draft on Georgia

By Patrick Worsnip

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Veto-holding Russia blocked U.N. Security Council action on the Georgian crisis on Tuesday, refusing to support a Western-backed draft resolution calling for an immediate Russian military withdrawal.

Even though Moscow has said it will withdraw, Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council the resolution should include and endorse a six-point peace plan promoted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and signed by both Georgia and Russia.

Since the French-drafted text did not do this, "the Russian Federation will not be able to support (it)," he said.

The council meeting ended with no attempt to put the resolution to a vote and French and other Western officials declined to say whether they would do so, a move that would almost certainly provoke a Russian veto.

The draft, circulated to council members shortly before the meeting, also calls for the return of Georgian forces to their usual bases and demands full and immediate compliance with the cease-fire both countries have subscribed to.

It also refers to "the territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders" -- a concept Russia says is now obsolete because two Moscow-backed breakaway enclaves refuse to be re-integrated into Georgia.

The crisis erupted after Georgia sent its military on Aug. 7-8 to try to recapture one of those enclaves -- South Ossetia -- and Russia responded with overwhelming force, sending troops and tanks deep into Georgia.

In a direct challenge to Moscow's view, U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff told the council South Ossetia and the other breakaway region of Abkhazia were clearly part of Georgia. "There's no room for debate on this point," he said.