Looks like Mr Miliband has caved completely to the interests of US imperialism, not surprising, but at least he's made it official - if it wasn't already.

From the Press Association:

Britain branded Russian recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions "unjustifiable and unacceptable" as the diplomatic row intensified.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband accused Russian President Dmitri Medvedev of "inflaming" the crisis by insisting that South Ossetia and Abkhazia should be independent.

In a statement, Mr Miliband said: "The announcement further inflames an already tense situation in the region.

"We fully support Georgia's independence and territorial integrity, which cannot be changed by decree from Moscow."

Mr Miliband called on Russia to "abide by international law as the basis for resolving this crisis".

Moscow must implement "urgently and in full" its commitment to withdraw troops to positions they held before the military confrontation with Georgia earlier this month, he insisted.

"The announcement by President Medvedev that Russia will recognise South Ossetia and Abkhazia is unjustifiable and unacceptable," Mr Miliband said.

Let's see what happens if we change a few words around:

Russia branded British recognition of Serbia's breakaway region "unjustifiable and unacceptable" as the diplomatic row intensified.

Foreign Secretary Sergey Lavrov accused British Foreign Secretary David Miliband of "inflaming" the crisis by insisting that Kosovo should be independent.

In a statement, Mr Lavrov said: "The announcement further inflames an already tense situation in the region.

"We fully support Serbia's independence and territorial integrity, which cannot be changed by decree from Washington and a handful of EU capitals."

Mr Lavrov called on Britain and the West to "abide by international law as the basis for resolving this crisis".

NATO must implement "urgently and in full" its commitment to withdraw troops to positions they held before the invasion of Yugoslavia in 1999, he insisted.

"The announcement made by Western countries stating they will recognise Kosovo is unjustifiable and unacceptable," Mr Lavrov said.

It also looks like Miliband did a Saakashvili:

It takes no account of the views of the hundreds of thousands of Georgians and others who have been forced to abandon their homes in the two territories.

The combined populations of Abkhazia and South Ossetia is about 250,000. He of course leaves himself an escape hatch by saying "others", yet clearly his intent was to imply that hundreds of thousands of Georgians have fled. He also dismisses the multiple referendums that have been carried out in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The people of both republics have clearly stated they don't want to be part of Georgia, and in the case of South Ossetia at least - I don't know about Abkhazia - have stated they want to join with their fellow Ossetians in the Russian Federation.

Britain should move to recognise the Republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Self-determination of nations is and should be a fundamental right. That's not to say all such moves are progressive - some clearly are not and are fueled by petty nationalism, or the top dog wanting to stay top dog in their tiny country. In the case of Northern Ireland the call was always for a united Ireland, not merely independence from Britain. South Ossetia remaining independent for an extended period I don't think would be progressive, 70,000 people is hardly a viable nation. They've been isolated for over 16 years now, the time has come for them to unite with North Ossetia, and Britain should be playing a leading role in that, we should not be supporting a country like Georgia who sought to crush the democratic will of the people of South Ossetia, and who destroyed a city in the process.