Interesting interview over at CFR today with Elizabeth Fuller of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, which takes a look at how Moscow can reconcile support for Georgia’s breakaway regions while managing separatist tensions within its own territory. She argues:

The more I think about it the more I am inclined to believe that Russia has never intended to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia. If Russia had done that, after it protested the recognition of Kosovo, it would have laid itself open to allegations of double standards. Russia had not let Chechnya secede. It would be difficult for Russia to argue that Abkhazia and South Ossetia have the right to become independent from Georgia but that Chechnya doesn’t have the right to become independent from Russia.