Recognition would mean crossing a threshold for Moscow, which has backed the separatists in Abkhazia and South Ossetia since their break with Tbilisi in the early 1990s but stopped short of declaring them independent from Georgia.

Both houses of Russia's parliament are to convene emergency sessions to examine appeals for recognition from South Ossetia - where fighting this month prompted Russia to send troops - and Abkhazia.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia and a move to declare them independent countries is sure to anger Tbilisi and fuel the crisis in relations between Russia and the West.

The parliament of Abkhazia formally asked Moscow for recognition last week, while South Ossetia's leader, Eduard Kokoity, travelled to Moscow at the weekend to present a similar request.

Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, last week signalled Moscow was ready to consider such a move, saying Russia would "make the decision which unambiguously supports the will of these two Caucasus peoples".

France, the president of the European Union, yesterday restated its determination to implement the Georgia peace plan, which the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, helped broker earlier this month.

Russia said its military pullback from Georgia had been completed on Saturday, although it still held key areas of the country. Armoured columns continued to pass over the Inguri River from the city of Zugdidi into Abkhazia, a local police spokesman said. The Russians have also left the Georgian military base in Senaki.

But Russian forces remain deep inside Georgia, maintaining checkpoints several kilometres from Gori close to the South Ossetian border, and two observational posts near the port city of Poti, where thousands of Georgians took to the streets demanding the Russians leave.

A US warship with humanitarian aid for Georgia anchored in the southern Georgian port of Batumi yesterday. Its arrival was a strong signal of support for the embattled ally.

The ship is the first of five American ships scheduled to arrive this week with supplies.

The aid will help the Georgian Government meet the challenge of preparing cities and villages in the conflict areas for the return of thousands of refugees. Large columns of Georgian police special forces were visible in and around Gori. Officers said they were there to provide security for returning residents.

The Georgian Government has registered about 112,000 refugees from the conflict in South Ossetia, though the real number could be as high as 200,000, said Maya Razmadze, a spokeswoman for Georgia's Refugee Ministry.

One of Tbilisi's largest refugee shelters is in a dilapidated building that used to house the Soviet military headquarters in the South Caucasus. At the shelter, about 1700 people share one makeshift water spigot and two toilets.

There is no electricity, and the shelter is short of food.

Among aid workers, there is some hope the flow of people returning home will help relieve Georgia's strained refugee services. "If the majority return to Gori, then it will be possible to deal with the rest of the refugees," said Arsen Gvenetadze, a doctor working for the UN Population Fund at the shelter.