White House warning to Russia

Updated 22.34 Wed Aug 13 2008
Keywords: Vladimir Putin, george bush, u.s. president, war, conflict, gori, south ossetia, georgia, russia

The White House has issued its strongest warning yet to Russia to pull its troops out of Georgia.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned the Kremlin against a repeat of the Cold War invasion of Czechoslovakia amid reports Russian troops were threatening the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Russian officials denied that their troops were in the town of Gori, deep inside Georgia, and Russia's General Staff denied its forces were moving towards the Georgian capital

Under the terms of a ceasefire brokered on Tuesday, Russia and Georgia should have pulled their troops back to the positions they were in before fighting broke out in the disputed border region of South Ossetia last week.

But US president George W Bush said he had heard reports that Russian forces were blocking access to the port of Poti and blowing up Georgian vessels.

Russian officials denied their troops were in the town of Gori, deep inside Georgia, and moving towards Tbilisi.

A US military C-17 aircraft carrying supplies arrived in Georgia and a second flight is planned for Thursday.

Mr Bush said he expected Russia to allow humanitarian supplies into the country and ensure all lines of communication and transport remain open.

Ms Rice, who is on her way to Georgia to meet president Mikheil Saakashvili, said: "If indeed Russia is violating a ceasefire - and I have to say the reports are not encouraging about Russia's respect for the ceasefire - that will only serve to deepen the isolation to which Russia is moving.

"This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten a neighbour, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it.

"Things have changed."

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We understand that this current Georgian leadership is a special project of the United States, but one day the United States will have to choose between defending its prestige over a virtual project or real partnership which requires joint action."

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