The Russian parliament put Western support for Georgia to the test yesterday when it voted unanimously to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. The final decision rests with President Medvedev, who has already declared a readiness to support unambiguously “the will of these two Caucasus peoples”.

It remains to be seen whether he will defy intense international pressure by recognising the regions. The United States, European Union and Nato have all backed Georgia.

“We consider this decision another step in Russia’s fight against Georgian sovereignty,” Giga Bokeria, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, said. “It is, and will be, if accepted by the Russian President, a continuation of Russian aggression against Georgia and a serious violation of international law.”

Boris Gryzlov, Speaker of the Duma, Russia’s lower house, said that the votes — first in the senate by 130-0 and then the Duma by 447-0 — demonstrated that “the Caucasus has always been and will remain the zone of Russia’s strategic interests”.

The White House said that Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, would travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy from September 2 for talks with their leaders about the crisis. President Sarkozy of France, who holds the rotating EU presidency, has called an emergency summit for September 1 to discuss relations with Russia.

European divisions over the best response were exposed in remarks by Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister. He told France-Inter radio that, despite problems in the relationship, “we are not talking about sanctions” against Russia.

Colonel-General Anatoli Nogovit-syn, the deputy chief of Russia’s general staff, risked further outrage by announcing that “peacekeeping” patrols would inspect goods entering and leaving the Georgian port of Poti.

President Saakashvili of Georgia accused Russia of attempting to “change Europe’s borders by force”.

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