Russia voices support for South Ossetia poll

MOSCOW, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Russia, placing itself at odds with the West, has voiced backing for an independence referendum in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, saying it had been carried out democratically.

''We are talking here about an expression of free will by the people of South Ossetia carried out through democratic procedures,'' a statement issued late yesterday by the Foreign Ministry said.

''However hard they try in Georgia and some other Western countries to belittle the importance of this event, it is nonetheless significant,'' the statement, in answer to a question from Itar-Tass news agency, said.

South Ossetia, a sliver of land in the Caucasus mountains that broke with Georgia in the early 1990s after a violent conflict, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday in favour of separation from Tbilisi.

The region has no international recognition but is propped up by Moscow and many of its people say they would like to be absorbed into the Russian Federation.

The statement seemed sure to anger Georgia, whose relations with Russia are at rock-bottom, and set Moscow at odds with the European Union.

The EU's Finnish presidency said yesterday it did not recognise the vote, which ''did not contribute to efforts for peaceful conflict resolution,'' and it voiced full support for Georgia's sovereignty within existing borders.

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli has said the referendum is part of a Russian campaign to stoke a war.

The Kremlin says it is Tbilisi which is dragging the conflict towards bloodshed by building up its military on the separatists' borders.

The Foreign Ministry heaped scorn on an alternative referendum in the region which was supported by many Georgians who fled their homes in the fighting in the early 1990s.

Questioning a claimed turnout of 40,000 in this rival poll, the Foreign Ministry said sarcastically that the figures had ''exceeded even the most immodest expectations''.

''One can only guess how the organisers of this show had managed to concentrate all at one time in a few villages more than 40,000 voters.

REUTERS MS VC1453