Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin said today he suspected someone in the United States provoked the conflict in Georgia in an attempt to help a candidate in the US presidential election.

"It is not just that the American side could not restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal act. The American side in effect armed and trained the Georgian army," Mr Putin said in an interview with CNN, part of which was broadcast on Russian state television.

"Why ... seek a difficult compromise solution in the peacekeeping process? It is easier to arm one of the sides and provoke it into killing another side. And the job is done.

"... The suspicion arises that someone in the United States especially created this conflict with the aim of making the situation more tense and creating a competitive advantage for one of the candidates fighting for the post of US president."

The crisis flared earlier this month when Georgia tried to retake by force its separatist province of South Ossetia and Russia launched an overwhelming counter-attack.

Russian forces swept the Georgian army out of the rebel region and are still occupying some areas of Georgia proper.

On Tuesday, Moscow announced it was recognising South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

The United States and Europe demand Russia respect a French-brokered ceasefire and withdraw all its troops from Georgia, including a disputed buffer zone imposed by Moscow.

The UN Security Council today refused to approve a request from representatives of two Georgian breakaway regions, which Russia has recognized as independent states, to address the council.

In recent months Russia has repeatedly asked the 15-nation council to allow representatives of Georgia's two separatist enclaves, to speak to the Security Council but Western council members have reacted coolly.

However, the situation has became more complicated since Russia formally recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent countries.

"There was no unanimous support to respond positively to these requests now," Belgium's UN Ambassador Jan Grauls told reporters after a closed-door meeting.

Meanwhile European Union leaders are considering imposing sanctions against Russia ahead of a summit on Monday to discuss the situation in Georgia, French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner said today.

Asked about measures that could be taken against Russia at the summit, Mr Kouchner said: "Sanctions are being considered". He gave no details.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any sanctions imposed on Russia would be the product of a "sick imagination" and Western confusion.

"Apart from that my friend Mr Kouchner also said that we will soon attack Moldova and Ukraine and the Crimea ... But that is a sick imagination and probably that applies to sanctions as well," Lavrov told reporters..

Earlier, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev told his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy that Georgian troops must return to their barracks in line with a French-brokered ceasefire, the Kremlin said today.

A Kremlin statement said Mr Medvedev and Mr Sarkozy spent more than an hour discussing the Georgian crisis by telephone. Mr Sarkozy's office did not immediately release an account of the conversation.

"The Russian side has stressed the need for Tbilisi to carry out point four of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan, under which all Georgian troops should be returned to their original bases," the Kremlin said in its account of the conversation.

"Mr Medvedev and Mr Sarkozy also discussed additional agreements, which may in future ensure safety in the areas near the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," it continued.

It did not say when the conversation took place, or on whose initiative.

France has joined other Western states condemning Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Yesterday, German chancellor Angela Merkel said she had condemned Russia's behaviour in a telephone conversation with Mr Medvedev and demanded a speedy pullout from Georgia.

However, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters Ms Merkel had made no such statement and described the conversation between Mr Medvedev and the German Chancellor as "constructive".

Reuters