U.S. Demands Russian Withdrawal From Georgia
Explaining The Conflict
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the capital of the embattled country of Georgia Friday. U.S. officials say she made the trip to demonstrate American support for its ally in the Caucasus, after Russian troops invaded and occupied a number of Georgian towns.
Rice also brought with her a cease-fire agreement — mediated by France — to bring an end to the hostilities between Russia and Georgia.
Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, emerged Friday after nearly five hours of talks with Rice. After an emotional and characteristically rambling speech, he announced he had agreed to the cease-fire deal with Russia.
"Today, I signed the cease-fire agreement," Saakashvili said. "I have to specify this is a cease-fire agreement — this is not final settlement. We are under Russian invasion, and we are under Russian occupation right now."
Earlier, Saakashvili compared the cease-fire agreement to the 1938 treaty of Munich, which allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.
Georgian officials complained that the agreement would allow Russia to "implement additional security measures" for a period of up to six months.
A top aide to the Georgian leader says Saakashvili was reassured after he received clarification from French President Nicholas Sarkozy, who has mediated between Moscow and Tbilisi.
Rice says now it is Russia's turn to show good faith.
"Now, with the signature of the Georgian president on the cease-fire accord, all Russian troops, and any irregular and paramilitary forces that entered with them, must leave immediately," Rice said.
But as Rice and the Georgian president were holding their talks, a column of Russian military vehicles advanced, unopposed, to within 20 miles of the Georgian capital.
Rice said the Russians would have to honor a written agreement, and she reminded Moscow of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, which took place 40 years ago this month.
"This is no longer 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, when a great power invaded a small neighbor and overthrew its government," Rice said. "The free world will now have to wrestle with the profound implications of this Russian attack on its neighbor, for security in the region and beyond."
Moscow says its military incursions into Georgian territory are to enforce peace and security in the region.
But behind the columns of Russian tanks have come bands of marauding soldiers and gunmen, who have been looting and burning Georgian villages.
On Thursday, a gunman shot and lightly wounded a Georgian television reporter as she filed an on-camera report near the Russian-occupied town of Gori.
The Russian advance has forced tens of thousands of Georgians to flee their homes.
The Pentagon has begun sending several military cargo planes a day to Tbilisi, delivering humanitarian aid such as tents and food for the refugees. On Friday, Rice announced plans for a package to help rebuild Georgia's economy.
But despite America's show of support, the future of this country rests in the hands of the Kremlin.
Saakashvili Signs Deal To End Conflict With Russia
World Opinion
Explaining The Conflict
Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday he had signed a cease-fire deal with Russia to end hostilities, but he accused NATO of "inviting Russian aggression" by rejecting his nation's entry into the West's mutual defense pact.
The announcement came in a joint news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was in Georgia to get agreement on the truce brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Today, I signed the cease-fire agreement," the Georgian president said, flanked by Rice outside the presidential palace in the capital, Tbilisi. "This is not a done deal. We need to do our utmost to deter such behavior in the future."
The cease-fire deal was aimed at speeding Russia's withdrawal more than a week after Moscow's troops and tanks poured into the former Soviet republic to back separatists in South Ossetia.
Saakashvili blamed the West for not reacting strongly to previous Russian military moves and for failing to grant Georgia membership of NATO.
The desperation of Georgia to end Russia's occupation was made clear by Saakashvili, who earlier had compared the cease-fire proposal to the humiliation suffered by Czechoslovakia in the 1930s at the hands of the Nazis. He called Russia's continued presence on Georgian soil a "very nasty and very dangerous situation."
Rice, for her part, alluded to another era in Czechoslovakia's history at the news conference, saying Moscow must understand that "this is no longer 1968" — a reference to the Soviet crackdown on the nascent democratic movement known as Prague Spring.
"Our most urgent task today is the immediate and orderly withdrawal of Russian armed forces and the return of those forces to Russia," she told reporters. "Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once."
Earlier Friday, President Bush demanded that Russia withdraw its forces from the former Soviet republic, expressing solidarity with the beleaguered nation and asserting, "We will not cast them aside."
"Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century," he said, adding that a contentious relationship with the United States is not in Russia's best interest.
The agreement came came as Russian troops continued to blockade the central Georgian town of Gori, which lies at the nexus of the country's main east-west highway about 45 miles west of Tbilisi.
By holding the city, Russian forces effectively cut Georgia in half. Russian military vehicles were blocking the eastern road into the city, although they allowed in one Georgian bus filled with bread.
Russian forces also are in several other cities deep in Georgia, including the Black Sea port city of Poti, officials said.
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