* Georgia recalls diplomats from Moscow * Ukraine wants to raise Russian rent on Black Sea base * U.S. ship avoids calling at Russian-patrolled port * Russia ready to back monitors move at U.N. * G7 condemns Russia's recognition of S. Ossetia, Abkhazia By Elizabeth Piper and Mark Trevelyan KIEV/TBILISI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Wednesday it wanted to discuss charging Russia more to lease a Black Sea naval base, a move that could aggravate regional tensions already inflamed by Moscow's conflict with Georgia. As the U.S. Navy shipped in humanitarian supplies to Georgia, Russia said its navy was watching "the build-up of NATO forces in the Black Sea area" and had started taking measures to monitor their activity. Georgia recalled all but two of its diplomats from Moscow in protest after Russia recognized its rebel South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions as independent and President Mikheil Saakashvili urged the West to uphold international law. "Russia clearly intended this as a blatant challenge to world order. It's now up to all of us to roll Russian aggression back. If they get away with this, they will carry on ... they will also attack other countries in the neighborhood," Saakashvili told Reuters in an interview. The Group of Seven -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- issued a statement to "condemn" Russian recognition of the two rebel regions and to "deplore Russia's excessive use of military force in Georgia." Russia quickly overwhelmed Georgian forces in a brief war over South Ossetia this month, the first time it has sent its forces abroad into combat since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia's troops and tanks continue to occupy parts of Georgia included in buffer zones it set up around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Moscow has ignored Western demands to withdraw from them. Russia says its troops are needed there to protect civilians from Georgian aggression. The Georgia crisis has alarmed other former Soviet republics with sizable Russian minorities, particularly Ukraine and the Baltic states. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested Russia might have its eye on neighboring countries such as Ukraine and Moldova. "GRAVE VIOLATION" German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev Russia's presence in Georgia's port of Poti and other areas outside Abkhazia and South Ossetia were "a grave violation" of the French-brokered ceasefire, her spokesman said. It allows Russia to station troops inside Georgia proper but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was ready to pull them back after an international monitoring mechanism was in place there. "We will be ready to make decisions, including in the United Nations...on additional increases in the number of international monitors, clarifying their mandate and possibly other steps with international participation," he said in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe. Despite the avalanche of international criticism, Moscow signaled it was relaxed about being the only country to recognize the rebel Georgian regions and ruled out putting pressure on its allies to follow its example. "To initiate wide support (for recognition) is not a primary goal," of Russian foreign policy, Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, told reporters. "We're not going to twist anyone's hands to make them support (recognition)." British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Medvedev had a big responsibility not to start a new Cold War. "Russia has not reconciled itself to the new map of this new region...We do not want a new Cold War and he (Medvedev) has a big responsibility not to start one," Miliband told a group of students in Ukraine's capital, Kiev. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko joined Western nations in condemning the Russian move to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states under Moscow's protection. "We are sorry about this decision, for Ukraine it is unacceptable and therefore we cannot support this position," he said in an interview with Reuters. Yushchenko said Kiev wanted to raise the question of increasing Russia's rent on its Sevastopol base in Ukraine's Crimea region, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Russia has said any renegotiation would break a 1997 agreement between the two countries, under which it currently leases the base for $98 million a year until 2017. The deputy head of Russia's General Staff told a news briefing Moscow was sticking strictly to the current agreement, and accused NATO states of "ratcheting up tension" in the Black Sea by increasing their presence there. "Now we have people flexing their muscles, demonstrating force ... We can only regret that," he said. The United States did, however, avoid a possible direct confrontation with Russia by diverting a U.S. Coast Guard ship carrying post-war aid to Georgia from the Russian-patrolled port of Poti. U.S. officials did not explain the change of plan. Russia's Medvedev has accused the United States of shipping weapons into Georgia, a remark the White House dismissed as "ridiculous." (Additional reporting by Yuri Kulikov in Kiev, Margarita Antidze in Tbilisi, Niko Mchedlishvili in Batumi, Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Arshad Mohammed in Washington; editing by Jon Boyle and Cynthia Osterman) [For stories on conflict in the Caucasus, click on [nL8613553]
A demonstrator burns the Russian flag during a protest outside the Russian embassy in Tbilisi August 27, 2008. Russia's armed forces overpowered Georgia's troops earlier this month after Tbilisi tried to ...
