Foreign Minister Stephen Smith has joined world leaders in calling on Russia to observe a cease-fire agreement that requires it to remove its military from the former Soviet state.

Mr Smith warned on Monday that if Russia fails to withdraw its troops, Australia might withhold approval of a new agreement that would allow Australian uranium to be exported to fuel Russian power plants.

'When the government comes to consider ratification of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with the Russian Federation, we will take into account not just the merits of the agreement, but events which have occurred in Georgia and ongoing events in Georgia and the state of Australia's bilateral relationship with the Russian Federation,' Mr Smith told Parliament.

Russia's ambassador in Canberra, Alexander Blokhin, responded that Australia's going back on the deal would hurt both countries' economic interests.

'If this agreement is not ratified, in that case we could regard it as an obviously politically biased decision, which could harm the economic interest of Australia as well,' Mr Blokhin was quoted on Tuesday as telling The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper through an interpreter.

'We do not see any connection between the events in the Caucasus region and the uranium deal. These are completely separate things,' he told the newspaper.

Mr Blokhin was not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

The agreement was signed last September, and a routine examination by a parliamentary Treaties Committee began on Monday.

Mr Smith has not said when the government might make a decision on whether to ratify the pact.

The agreement would allow Russia to use Australian uranium to achieve its goal of doubling Russian nuclear power capacity by 2020.

As with all of Australia's uranium customers, Russia would be barred from using the nuclear fuel for military purposes.

Australia, which holds almost 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, has had a restricted agreement to sell uranium to Russia since 1990.

That agreement only allows Russia to enrich the uranium for a third country and does not allow its use in Russian power plants.

On Aug 7, Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia, hoping to retake the province which broke away from Georgia in the early 1990s.

Russian forces repelled the offensive and pushed into Georgia. The two sides signed a cease-fire deal in mid-August, but Russia has ignored its requirement that all forces return to prewar positions.

Russia has faced isolation over its offensive in Georgia and stands alone in recognising South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. -- AP