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TBILISI–The United States pressed yesterday for the immediate withdrawal of Russian forces in Georgia, as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice came close to the front lines to win the Georgian president's approval for a redefined ceasefire. She pushed to close a loophole that Russia could use to justify its advance deep into Georgia.
As Rice spoke at a news conference in Tbilisi, a Russian column of at least a dozen armoured vehicles moved to within roughly 40 kilometres, by far the Russians' closest approach to the Georgian capital.
The battle of angry words sharpened as well. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of harbouring "idiotic ideas" that had provoked war.
Saakashvili, in turn, referred to the Russians as "21st century barbarians" who had essentially raped Georgia.
"Who invited the trouble here? Who invited this arrogance here? Who invited these innocent deaths here?" he said.
Shaky and near tears, Saakashvili answered his own question: "Not only those people who perpetrate them are responsible, but also those people who failed to stop it."
Besides offering vocal support for Georgia, Rice convinced Saakashvili, after some five hours of talks, to sign a revised version of a ceasefire framework originally hammered out Wednesday. Rice then declared all Russian troops must leave Georgian territory immediately.
Russia's foreign minister assured Rice last night his country would implement the ceasefire deal "faithfully," a U.S. official said, adding Russia was likely to sign it today.
Georgia remained tense after several days of fighting left tens of thousands homeless and thrust the United States and Russia into a Cold War-style confrontation. In Washington, President George W. Bush warned of repercussions from events in a "small country halfway around the world."
The humanitarian situation in Georgian villages in Russian-controlled areas continued to worsen yesterday. Georgia's minister of health, Alexander Kvitashvili, estimated in an interview that as many as 3,000 people were trapped in Georgian villages, unable to come out for fear that marauding South Ossetians would kill them.
Corpses of Georgian soldiers still lay sprawled on streets in Russian-controlled areas, witnesses said. The total number of Georgian casualties since the beginning of the conflict is 175, he said, including 115 soldiers. That number is expected to grow.
Georgia was not the only strain on relations between Moscow and Washington. Russia warned Poland yesterday it was risking attack – even a nuclear one – by accepting a U.S. missile interceptor base on its soil.
American and Polish officials stuck by their deal signed Thursday for Poland to host a system that Washington says is meant to block missile attacks by rogue nations.
New York Times, Associated Press
