Tuesday August 12, 2008

U.S. tells Russia to halt Georgia conflict

By Matt Robinson

TBILISI (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush told Russia on Monday to end its armed conflict with Georgia after Moscow's forces advanced deeper into its pro-Western neighbor's territory, ignoring Western pleas to halt.

Russian soldiers are seen during sunset outside the Georgian village of Zemo Nikozi, some 20 km outside the South Ossetian capital of Tshinvali, August 11, 2008. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov)

Bush said it appeared Moscow sought to overthrow the elected government of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and warned a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of Russia's push into the smaller country would jeopardize relations with the West.

"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century," Bush said.

Moscow snubbed Western pleas for a ceasefire, and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, taking a leading role in the crisis, criticized Washington for casting Georgians as the victims rather than aggressors in the conflict.

"The Cold War has long ended but the mentality of the Cold War has stayed firmly in the minds of several U.S. diplomats. It is a real shame," Putin said.

The fighting erupted on Thursday when Georgia sent forces to retake South Ossetia, a pro-Russian region that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s and declared itself independent, albeit without international recognition.

Moscow, which supports South Ossetia's independence, responded by sending its troops into Georgia.

The conflict escalated quickly and, by Monday, Georgia appealed for international help and said its battered forces had retreated to defend its capital city, Tbilisi.

Shortly after Bush spoke, Saakashvili said Moscow should know Georgia will not quit.

"Georgia will never surrender," he said on CNN when asked what he would say to Russian officials if they were watching. "They should know Georgia will never surrender."

CEASEFIRE RESOLUTION

Georgia hosts a key oil pipeline supplying the West and the fighting has unsettled oil markets. It has alarmed investors in Russia and has raised fears of a wider conflagration in the volatile region bordering Iran, Turkey and Russia.

A feeling of uneasiness pervaded Tbilisi, as for the first time in four nights, city streets were largely empty, with no evening demonstration by the president's supporters.

Saakashvili said Russian forces had taken control of Georgia's main east-west route, effectively bisecting the country. He urged Georgians to stay home and not panic.

"We are working with an international community, but all we got so far are just words, statements, moral support, humanitarian aid," Saakashvili said in a televised address. "But we need more -- we want them to stop this barbaric aggressor."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was expected in Moscow and possibly Georgia on Tuesday for talks on behalf of the European Union, although it was unclear what could be achieved.

At the United Nations, France planned to present a resolution to the U.N. Security Council that would call for an immediate cease-fire.

Saakashvili said earlier he had agreed to a plan proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner under which hostilities would end, a mixed peacekeeping force would be deployed -- replacing the purely Russian one -- and troops would return to pre-conflict positions.

But a senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said the outlook was "grim" and that Russia had planned its moves in Georgia for some time.

"This appears to be a full invasion of Georgia with an end result uncertain and an objective that is not clear but appears to be aggressive in nature," said the official. "Words like invasion should not be used lightly but this is an invasion."

In Georgia, an emergency session of parliament was called on Tuesday.

CONVOY HEADS FOR TBILISI

Russian officials have said they have no intention of occupying territory beyond South Ossetia and another separatist area, Abkhazia.

But Russian forces appear to have pushed farther into Georgia. Bush also said there was evidence Russian forces would soon begin bombing the civilian airport in the Georgian capital.

"If these reports are accurate, these Russian actions would represent a dramatic and brutal escalation of the conflict in Georgia," Bush said in Washington after returning from a trip to China for the Olympic Games.

Russia says 1,600 people have been killed in the fighting and thousands are homeless but these figures are not independently verifiable.

Women and children wept in the streets of Tskhinvali on Monday as they surveyed the destruction amid continued Georgian shelling. Russian troops distributed water and food from trucks.

Russia said it had lost four military aircraft and 18 soldiers since the fighting started, with another 14 missing in action and 52 wounded.

(Additional reporting by Tanya Mosolova and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow, Dmitry Solovyov in Buron, Denis Sinyakov in Tskhinvali, James Kilner in Tbilisi, Margarita Antidze in Gori, Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations, and the Washington bureau)

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