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Rice Gets Georgian Approval of Cease-Fire, Demands Russians Withdraw
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He demanded that Russian troops leave Georgia and lauded the country for its transition to democratic politics and market economics in the years since the Soviet Union collapsed. Noting that Georgia, a small nation with limited military resources, sent troops to both Afghanistan and Iraq, he reiterated that the United States would stand by it in the current crisis.
"The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world, and we will not cast them aside," Bush said. "Unfortunately, Russia has tended to view the extension of freedom and democracy as a threat to its interests. . . . Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century. "
In Moscow, meanwhile, top Russian officials made clear that the dissatisfaction runs both ways. A day after the United States and Poland signed a new missile defense deal, a top Russian general said the arrangement "can't go unpunished."
The positioning of missile defense equipment in former Warsaw Pact countries has been an on-going source of contention between Washington and Moscow, and Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a colonel-general on Russia's General Staff, charged that the signing of the agreement on Thursday was not coincidental.
"We can only regret that at this very difficult time, the U.S. side is further aggravating relations between the U.S. and Russia," Nogovitsyn said, suggesting that the U.S. equipment would be a legitimate military target.
The high-level rhetoric occurred as diplomatic efforts continued to end the immediate crisis sparked by the incursion of thousands of Russian troops into Georgia last week in support of the Russian-allied separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Rice arrived in Tbilisi even as Russian troops continued occupying key positions in the central city of Gori, a few dozen miles from here, and in other spots throughout the country.
In a meeting with Saakashvili, she said she clarified key points of a French-brokered cease-fire agreement that would remove the bulk of Russian forces from Georgian territory. While the agreement gives Russia leeway to conduct what it regards as peacekeeping operations around South Ossetia, Rice said it would still accomplish the important interim goal of removing Russian troops from the city of Gori and other positions on undisputed Georgian soil.
"The United States would never ask Georgia to sign onto something where its interests were not protected," Rice said en route to Tbilisi. "This is not an agreement about the future of Abkhazia and the future of South Ossetia. . . . This is about getting Russian troops out."
The United States also has begun humanitarian aid deliveries to Georgia and will be involved in future discussions about the fate of the two disputed provinces. Top Russian officials say that Abkhazia and South Ossetia should not return to Georgian control, while the United States and Europe say they expect Georgia's borders to be respected.
As Rice visited Tbilisi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as part of on-going European mediation efforts.
