Breakaway region asks Russia to recognize independence

(CNN) -- One of Georgia's breakaway regions has asked Russia to recognize independence, according to a report by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Lawmakers in Abkhazia approved the request from President Sergei Bagapsh, Interfax reported. The president also called for a friendship and mutual assistance treaty, which would call for maintaining Russian peacekeepers in the region -- located in western Georgia.

"I propose that the Russian Federation recognize the Republic of Abkhazia as a sovereign and independent state and establish diplomatic relations between Abkhazia and Russia," Bagapsh said in his appeal.

The recent fighting between Russia and Georgia centered on developments in South Ossetia, the other breakaway region, where Georgia launched a large-scale attack on August 7 after a week of what it said were separatist attacks on villages near the enclave.

The next day Russia sent hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles across the international border, driving into Georgia from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

South Ossetian and Abkhaz authorities consider their regions independent. But Georgia considers those Russian-backed separatist areas part of Georgian territory, a position underscored by international law and agreements.

Russian officials have said those regions should have self-determination, and that the Russian government would support the people there in whatever they supported.

President Bush on Wednesday called the invasion a "disproportionate response" and repeated his position on the breakaway regions.

"South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia," Bush said, and the United States "will work with our allies to assure Georgia's independence and territorial integrity."

"Georgia has stood for freedom around the world, and now the world must stand with Georgia," Bush said in a speech at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Meanwhile, finance ministers for the Group of Seven nations -- the United States, Canada, Japan, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy -- pledged Wednesday to help war-wracked Georgia rebuild its economy and infrastructure.

"We, the G-7, stand ready to support Georgia in order to promote the continued health of the Georgian economy, maintain confidence in Georgia's financial system and support economic reconstruction," the ministers said in a joint statement.

The ministers urged Georgia, other nations, and organizations such as the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and European Commission to support reconstruction efforts.

Also Wednesday, Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaking at the organization's headquarters in Geneva, said it would send workers to Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia, as well as bolster its presence in badly affected areas of Georgia.

Both Russia and Georgia have accused each other of ethnic cleansing during the conflict.

The Red Cross announcement came after discussions between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kellenberger.

Kellenberger said that the priority in South Ossetia would be to "restore contact between family members who have been separated by the conflict and to obtain information about people who remain unaccounted for," as well as "visit all those captured or detained in connection with the conflict to assess their treatment and living conditions."

He added that in Georgia the organization had already brought in more that 430 tons of food and other relief supplies for up to 25,000 people during the past week.

The civilian death toll from the conflict is unclear. Russia has said as many as 2,000 people were killed when Georgian forces cracked down on Tskhinvali, but Georgia said the death toll is in the hundreds.

The U.N. refugee agency estimates that nearly 160,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, from Georgia proper and South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Russia's deputy chief of staff of armed forces, said Wednesday that 64 of its soldiers died during fighting with Georgia, with another 323 wounded.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday that Russian forces were still inside Georgia, despite a European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement to withdraw -- and despite Moscow's saying it had begun pulling out Monday.

"We do not see signals of this happening," Scheffer said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. "There can be no business as usual with Russia under the present circumstances."

A statement from the ministers said that NATO members "remain concerned by Russia's actions," the statement said, calling Russian military action "disproportionate." Watch Georgia react to NATO statement »

But Lavrov said NATO's accusations were "biased."

Lavrov said NATO was taking the side of Georgia, whose forces he said had failed to withdraw to their barracks.

"They blame us as if there were no requirements for the Georgian side in the six points" of the cease-fire agreement, he said. "I mean the requirements to bring back their troops to the places where they are on a permanent basis."

Russian forces took five U.S. Marine Humvees from the western Georgia port of Poti on Tuesday, three Pentagon officials with knowledge of the incident told CNN on Wednesday.

The Humvees belonged to a U.S. Marine Reserve team, which was training Georgian troops for deployment to Iraq before the conflict between Russia and Georgia started earlier this month.

In video shot Tuesday by the Associated Press, the Humvees were seen being driven off and towed by Russian forces.

Pentagon officials were trying to determine if sensitive equipment was on any of the vehicles,

CNN's Jill Dougherty in Moscow contributed to this report.

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