VLADIKAVKAZ (Russia) - RUSSIAN President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday hailed the Russian victory in a war with Georgia a year ago, saying it showed the nation's strength and boosted its role in the world.

Medvedev vowed that Russia would not renege on its recognition of the independence of two breakaway Georgian regions after the brief and bitter war.

Medvedev awarded medals to servicemen who fought in the war, in which thousands of Russian troops crushed the Georgian military in five days of fighting.

'You have defended Russia's dignity and you have fulfilled your duty with honor,' Medvedev told hundreds of servicemen who snapped to attention at a rain soaked base on the outskirts of Vladikavkaz, not far from the Georgian border. Rows of tanks and rocket launchers were parked in a show of military might.

Also Saturday, the leader of one of Georgia's separatist regions pressed his case that Georgia was the aggressor by opening what he called a genocide museum.

The statements were part of a continuing public relations battle over how the war is seen by the global public opinion. One year after it ended, Russia and Georgia are still trying to blame each other for starting the war.

Georgia claims the war began late Aug. 7, 2008, with the alleged entry of a Russian military convoy into South Ossetia. Russia marks Aug. 8 as the war's start - when South Ossetia's capital came under a Georgian artillery barrage.

Medvedev said Russia's recognition of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another Georgian breakaway province, was the only way to protect the people there. He said that Russia would not backtrack on its recognition of the two regions' independence.

'Some of our partners have an illusion that it's a temporary thing, some kind of maneuvering, and that they can force Russia to backtrack on that. Such decisions are made once and for all, and there is no way back,' Medvedev said. -- AP