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Vladimir Putin's 'reset button' armed

by Mark Silva

It's probably a good thing that the Obama administration has pushed the "reset button'' in relations with Russia.

With Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's announcement today that Russia will spend as much as 16 billion rubles ($487 million) next year to develop a military base in the breakaway region of Abkhazia and fortify the border of the separatist Georgian territory, memories of Russia's five-day war with Georgia just a year ago may linger fresh on the minds of the world's diplomats.

Russia recognized Abkhazia as a sovereign country after the war over another breakaway Georgian region, South Ossetia. Russia has deployed thousands of troops in the two regions.

"On a visit to the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi today, the first anniversary of a European Union-brokered cease-fire agreement that brought the fighting to an end, Putin renewed Russia's pledge to defend Abkhazia against attack and to help the region rebuild its economy,'' Bloomberg News notes.

"The Abkhaz people will succeed in reviving their economy as Russia continues to give systemic economic and political -- and, if needed, military -- support," Putin told reporters after talks with Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh.

Putin recently returned from vacation outside the town of Kyzyl, in Southern Siberia, where he boned up on his horseback skills. The Russians are putting a lot of horsepower into Abkhazia.

President Barack Obama recently returned from Russia.

On his way there, he noted this of Putin: "I think he would admit that his formative years were shaped on the Cold War and that some of his continued grievances with respect to the West are still dated in some of the suspicions that came out of that period... I think he genuinely would like to see U.S.- Russians relations improve.''

(Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin pictured on vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia earlier this month in a photo by Alexsey Druzhnin /AFP / Getty Images)