The Russian parliament voted overwhelmingly on Monday to recognise the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions - while President Dmitry Medvedev linked the Georgia conflict to tensions over another separatist region.

The European Union, which has criticised Russia's military intervention, called a special summit on the Georgia crisis. Many European nations expressed concern at the Russian parliament vote to recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

With Russian troops still inside Georgia and tensions heightened by the arrival in a Georgian port of a US warship carrying aid, Russia's two parliament chambers approved a resolution calling on Medvedev formally to recognise the two regions.

The Duma and Federation Council held special sessions to debate the region's calls for recognition.

The two regions are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, where Russian troops rolled in on August 8 to fight off a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia. Addressing the Federation Council, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said Russia had saved his region from "genocide."

He asserted there was more political and legal legitimacy to recognising South Ossetia's independence than there had been for Kosovo, the Serbian province which broke free with EU and US backing.

The Abkhaz separatist leader, Sergei Bagapsh, said: "Neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia will ever again live in one state with Georgia." The parliament appeal was not binding and a final decision on Russian recognition rests with Medvedev.

The Russian president has signalled his support for independence and on Monday he mentioned the South Ossetia case when he said a dispute with Moldova over the Transdniestr region could be settled. "

It's reasonable to discuss already today the Transdniestr problem. I see good chances for solving it," Medvedev told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin at a meeting at the Russian leader's Black Sea coastal residence at Sochi.

He said Transdniestr, which lies on Moldova's eastern edge adjoining Ukraine, should be viewed in the context of the battle with Georgia.

Events in South Ossetia showed "how dangerous such so-called frozen conflicts can be, given that the Georgian leadership, as they say, went crazy," Medvedev said, quoted by Interfax News Agency.

"This is a serious warning for us all. It is in this context that we should view the question of Transdniestr resolution," the Russian leader said.

Transdniestr fought a brief independence war after the Soviet Union's collapse but is not internationally recognised. It hosts Russian troops and a Soviet-era arms dump.

Controversial move?

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be "an attempt to change Europe's borders by force," in an interview with French newspaper Liberation.

Germany urged Medvedev to ignore the parliament vote and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on him to be "particularly prudent" in his decision.

Experts said Medvedev's next move was unclear. "Right after the conflict with Georgia, Russia would look very indecent if it immediately annexed South Ossetia and Abkhazia," said Yevgeny Volk, of the US-based Heritage Foundation.

The European Union signalled growing impatience with Russia when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced a special European summit on the Georgia crisis on September 1.

Sarkozy has asked Russia to pull out its troops from western Georgia in line with a six-point ceasefire plan he brokered between Russia and Georgia to end the conflict.

Russia withdrew tanks, artillery and hundreds of troops from their most advanced positions in Georgia on Friday. But Russian troops still control access to the port city of Poti, south of Abkhazia, and have established other checkpoints around South Ossetia.

Russia claims the six-point peace plan gives it the right to leave "peacekeepers" deep inside Georgia in a buffer zone.

A US Navy destroyer carrying relief supplies arrived at a Black Sea port in Georgia on Sunday in a sign of support for Georgia, which has been campaigning to join NATO and sent its US-trained troops to Iraq.

The USS McFaul dropped anchor off Batumi, 50 kilometres south of the Russian-occupied port of Poti, the first of three ships carrying aid to help Georgia deal with an estimated 100,000 displaced people.

A US coastguard ship passed through the Turkish straits on Sunday en route for Georgia while the USS Mount Whitney, flagship of the US Mediterranean Sixth Fleet was to set sail for the Black Sea at the end of the month.

A top Russian general on Saturday accused NATO countries of using humanitarian aid as "cover" for a build-up of naval forces in the Black Sea.