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Russia 'unreconciled'

After holding talks with President Yushchenko, Mr Miliband told a group of students in Kiev that the Georgia crisis had "provided a rude awakening".

Mr Miliband said Moscow's "unilateral attempt to redraw the map marks a moment of real significance".

The Russian president, he said, had a "big responsibility not to start" a new Cold War.

The foreign secretary said the response of the EU and Nato to such "aggression" should be one of "hard-headed engagement".

"That means bolstering our allies, rebalancing the energy relationship with Russia, defending the rules of international institutions, and renewing efforts to tackle 'unresolved conflicts'," he explained.

Mr Miliband again rejected calls for Russia to be expelled from the G8, but did suggest the EU and Nato needed to review relations with it.

He also reiterated the British government's support for Ukraine's application for full Nato membership.

European warnings

The Russian government later responded to Mr Miliband's criticism by saying Moscow saw no threat of a new Cold War.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia had been taking "measures of precaution" against Nato warships in the Black Sea, but hoped to avoid confrontation.

SOUTH OSSETIA & ABKHAZIA

"I wouldn't agree that we really have a threat of a new Cold War. Russia was, is and will continue to be the last country in the world that would want a repeat of the Cold War," Dmitry Peskov said.

China meanwhile addressed the crisis for the first time by expressing "concern" about developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and urging dialogue.

The comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao met President Medvedev in Tajikistan ahead of a regional summit.

In other developments

• Georgia moved to reduce its diplomatic presence in Moscow, confirming its ambassador would not return
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the continued presence of Russian forces in Georgia proper was a grave ceasefire violation. She also agreed to send up to 15 military observers to Georgia as part of an OSCE mission
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow would support the presence of more international monitors in the buffer zones
• French President Nicolas Sarkozy described Moscow's decision as an unacceptable attempt to change borders, and said any settlement had to be based on international law, dialogue and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity
• French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called Russia an "international outlaw" and said the real worry was not a new Cold War but a "hot" one, suggesting that another Russian objective might now be Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking territory of Crimea.

Preventing 'catastrophe'

On Tuesday, Mr Medvedev said Moscow had been obliged to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia following the "genocide" started by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in South Ossetia in August.

Georgia said Russia was seeking to "change Europe's borders by force".

Most of Russia's forces pulled out of the rest of Georgia last Friday but it maintains a presence both within the two rebel regions and in buffer zones imposed round their boundaries.