MOSCOW, Sept 2: Moscow claimed victory on Tuesday after EU leaders stepped back from imposing sanctions over Russia’s partial occupation of neighbouring Georgia.

As Russia and its critics kept up their diplomatic offensives, US Vice President Dick Cheney was to head to Georgia in a show of support while Russia’s foreign minister visited Turkey.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who retains huge power after leaving the presidency earlier this year, praised what he called the European Union’s “common sense.” EU leaders decided at an emergency summit in Brussels on Monday to freeze talks on a new strategic EU-Russia accord.

But the bloc did not accept proposals by Britain and eastern European nations for harder measures, including sanctions, over Russia’s August military offensive in Georgia and recognition of two separatist regions.

“Thank God, common sense prevailed. We saw no extreme conclusions and proposals, and this is very good,” Putin said in comments shown on NTV television.

However, Georgia’s pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili, pointed to the freezing of EU-Russia partnership talks as proof of Western solidarity behind Georgia.

“Russia failed to break the unity at the heart of Europe,” he told France 24 television.

US President George W. Bush, one of Moscow’s harshest critics during the crisis, also “expressed appreciation for the EU sending strong messages,” the White House said.

The Russian foreign ministry said that “the intention to freeze talks about a new partnership agreement is a cause for regret.” President Dmitry Medvedev also criticised the European Union’s failure to understand Russian motives for going to war in Georgia.

“Unfortunately there is still no full understanding of the motives of the leadership of the Russian Federation when it took the decision to repel the aggression of Georgia,” Medvedev said, according to state news agency ITAR-TASS.

“This is sad, but not fatal,” he was quoted as saying.

Moscow says that troops were sent to repulse an attempt by Georgia to restore control over South Ossetia, a tiny region where the local ethnic Ossetian population broke away with Russian backing in the 1990s.

Last week the Kremlin recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. No other country has yet followed suit.

Georgia says the Russian incursion was part of a plan to annex its territory and bring down Saakashvili’s government, which wants Georgia to join Nato and has positioned the country as a key export route for Caspian Sea energy.

On Tuesday, Georgia confirmed that it had cut diplomatic ties with Moscow.

The previous day, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against Russia’s occupation.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a visit to Nato-member Turkey that the alliance had been arming Georgia ahead of the conflict.

He also reiterated Russia’s support for sending an international police mission to Georgia to help maintain security around South Ossetia and the similarly secessionist region of Abhkazia.

However, the Russian envoy to the European Union was cautious on this issue, saying that the governments in Abkhazia and South Ossetia would also have to agree.

“So far they said they would accept only Russian peacekeepers,” he said.

Both areas have made formal requests to host Russian military bases -- a move that Georgia says underlines Moscow’s desire to annex the territories and weaken its statehood.

“Russian military bases are a guarantee of stability and security. There has been such a request from our administration,” Abkhaz president Sergei Bagapsh told journalists on Tuesday.—AFP