(AVIGNON) - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Saturday said Russia had failed to win backing for its recognition of Georgia's breakaway regions and warned that Moscow was isolating itself on the world stage.

"You only have to look at the failure of all but less than half a dozen countries to join Russia in recognising Abkhazia and (South) Ossetia to see that Russia has isolated itself," he told reporters on the second day of an EU foreign ministers' meeting in the southern French city of Avignon.

Six ex-Soviet states, represented under the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), Friday voiced support for Russia's actions in Georgia though they stopped short of recognising the independence of the rebel regions.

Nicaragua is so far the only country to have formally followed Moscow's August 26 decision to recognise the independence of the regions at the heart of its five-day war with Tbilisi, a move firmly condemned by the West.

China and four Central Asian nations last week backed Russia's "active role" in resolving the conflict in Georgia, but did not recognise the regions' independence.

Only Kremlin ally Belarus has said it might recognise the two provinces.

Russian troops poured into Georgia last month to repel an attack by the Georgian army aimed at retaking South Ossetia. They have remained deep inside Georgian territory in what Moscow calls "security zones."

The EU has frozen partnership talks with Moscow until it withdraws its troops in line with an EU-backed peace plan, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy travels to Moscow Monday to call for fresh talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

"President Sarkozy has made clear his minimum and his minimum is adherence to the six-point plan because he signed it with President Medvedev," Miliband said.

"President Medvedev said that his word was his bond and now that needs to be followed through," he added.

He insisted the EU favoured "hard-headed engagement with Russia, not isolation of Russia."

He said: "Economically you'll have noticed that the Russian stock market has fallen by 35 percent since May and its acceleration has been notable since the Georgian crisis.

"In the modern world political instability and economic instability go together and I think that's something that Russia has brought on itself," he added.

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