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Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared that Russia would for- mally recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Georgia's two breakaway republics, on August 26. In a televised speech, he stressed that the decision was made in light of the "freely ex- pressed will" of the people in the two regions and based on the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act of the 1975 Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, among other international instruments. The United States and other Western countries strongly opposed the move, which they believe will increase instability in the region. Medvedev, however, claimed that Russia does not fear a new cold war while calling on other countries to back the Russian policy.