Medvedev: S. Ossetia attack Russia's 9/11

MOSCOW, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev Saturday likened the Georgian military action in South Ossetia to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The president addressed a foreign audience of reporters and scholars at a GUM department store in Moscow, The Times of London reported. He escalated the rhetoric in his country's confrontation with the United States and Europe.

"The world has changed and it occurred to me that Aug. 8, 2008, has become for Russia what Sept. 11, 2001, was for the United States. This is an accurate comparison corresponding to Russian realities," he said. "Humankind has drawn lessons from the Sept. 11 tragedy and other tragic events. I would like the world to draw lessons also from these events."

South Ossetia and another Georgian region, Abkhazia, have since declared independence and been recognized by Russia, although not by other European countries or the United States.

Medvedev said NATO membership for Georgia is "unacceptable" and demanded that other countries recognize Russia's "zone of interest" in the former Soviet republics.