West must stop relying on Russian energy, says Brown

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As the EU held an emergency meeting on the conflict in Georgia, Mr Brown said it was time for a "root and branch" review of all links to the Kremlin.

Germany and other states were wary of imposing economic sanctions, but Mr Brown called for tough action. The Prime Minister's spokesman said: "What has happened in the last month has strengthened the argument not only for diversification away from gas and oil but also away from Russian oil and gas." The EU gets about a quarter of its natural gas from Russia.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov made it clear Moscow wants Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili out of power. "If instead of choosing their national interests and the interests of the Georgian people, the US and its allies choose the Saakashvili regime, this will be a mistake of truly historic proportions," he said.

"It would be right to impose an embargo on weapons to this regime, until different authorities turn Georgia into a normal state," he said in a speech at Russia's leading foreign policy graduate school." Mr Saakashvili urged EU leaders not to "give up, faced with [ Russia's] dirty attempt at aggression".

Russian president Dmitri Medvedev has declared that his country will continue to protect "regions of privileged interest" and would hit back against any sanctions. Moscow's ambassador to London, Yuri Fedotov, said sanctions would "hurt" Europe more than Russia.

David Cameron said it was time to think about suspending Russia from the G8 group of leading nations and halting the strategic partnership between the EU and Russia. EU leaders are expected to warn Russia there cannot be business as usual after its actions but the Paris summit will fall short of calling for sanctions because of divisions between the 27 member states.

Russia's war with Georgia began on 7 August when Georgia tried to regain control of its breakaway South Ossetia province by force and Russia counterattacked.