2008-03-07 18:53:44 -

SUKHUMI, Georgia (AP) - Abkhazia, the Black Sea region that broke away from Georgian control in the 1990s, appealed to the world community Friday to recognize it as independent, citing Kosovo as a precedent.
Georgia, meanwhile, protested Moscow's decision to lift trade restrictions on Abkhazia.
And adding further to the tensions, a Russian official said businesses

building for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi can look to Abkhazia for workers and materials if they need to.
The developments threaten to send ties between Moscow and Tbilisi plummeting and will focus international attention on the consequences of Kosovo's declaration of independence for the so-called «frozen conflicts.
Russian and other officials have warned that the Kosovo declaration _ and Western recognition _ could fuel other separatist movements, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Nations that recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia say that situation was unique.
In a unanimous resolution, Abkhazia's legislature called on the world community and the Russian Parliament to recognize it as an independent nation.
«The republic of Abkhazia has for 15 years successfully existed as an independent nation,» the resolution said, citing Kosovo's independence as justification for the timing.
The appeal follows a nearly identical resolution earlier this week by another breakaway region, South Ossetia.
Temur Yakobashvili, Georgia's state minister for reintegration matters, said the Abkhazia resolution should not be taken seriously.
«This Parliament is not legitimate; it was not elected by the population of Abkhazia,» he said. «It cannot reflect the will of the entire population.
Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia have had de-facto independence since wars in the 1990s. No country recognizes their governments, though Russia has tacitly supported their autonomy _ granting residents Russian passports, maintaining trade ties and stationing peacekeepers there.
Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, has vowed to restore government control over both regions. Violence occasionally breaks out between separatist forces and Georgia-backed militias.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Kosovo's independence set a «terrible precedent.» But he said Moscow would not «ape» the West, indicating Russia would not swiftly recognize the breakaway regions.
Still, in its strongest move yet toward Abkhazia, Moscow said Thursday it was lifting trade and financial sanctions.
The Foreign Ministry said due to «changed circumstances» Russia was not obliged to follow the trade, financial and other restrictions it and other former Soviet republics of the Commonwealth of Independent States imposed in the mid 1990s.

Georgia called the decision a dangerous mistake. On Friday, it called in Russia's ambassador to protest.
«This move cannot be seen as anything but a bald-faced attempt to infringe on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia (and) as an encouragement to separatism,» the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
A playground for the Soviet-era elite, the lush region now mainly exports agricultural products, such as mandarin oranges, to Russia. Russian businessmen have begun investing in Abkhazia's infrastructure.
Adding to the attraction is Abkhazia's location, a few miles (kilometers) from Sochi, home to the 2014 Winter Games. Billions of development dollars (euros) are pouring into the region, and Georgia fears more money coming into Abkhazia will only pull the region further from its control.
In Moscow Friday, Russia's regional development minister told reporters that Russian businesses and investors building for the Sochi game can look to Abkhazia for workers and materials if they need.
Associated Press writers Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili in Tbilisi, Georgia, and Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow contributed to this report.