The official said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been in contact with her European counterparts Saturday and was contemplating sending an envoy to the region to help broker a cease-fire.
But the official said the U.S. was not considering any military aid to the Georgians. The U.S. has military trainers in Georgia to help modernize the country's armed forces, and less than 150 are believed to be in Georgian territory.
In Abkhazia, another breakaway Georgian republic backed by Russia, fighters launched attacks on Georgian military positions. Like South Ossetia, Abkhazia won de facto autonomy in a bloody war with Georgia, and is now leaning on Russia in hope of winning independence. The outbreak of fighting in Abkhazia raised the threat of a broader war in the Caucasus.
In another sign that a bigger, bloodier fight could be in store, Russia moved its Black Sea fleet closer to the Georgia coast Saturday, Interfax news agency reported. Georgia has already called for a mass mobilization of all reservists, and called its 2,000 troops home from Iraq to join the fight.
After returning from Beijing, Putin installed himself in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, just over the border from South Ossetia. Once back on Russian turf, Putin was plainly at the helm of war planning -- consulting with the military, denouncing Georgia and meeting with South Ossetian refugees.
The prime minister accused Georgia of "genocide" of South Ossetians and pledged Russian funds to rebuild the capital of the breakaway republic. He also hinted that Georgia no longer had the moral authority to assert territorial control over South Ossetia.
Longtime tension
Ethnic tensions have brewed between Georgians and South Ossetians for generations. Critics say Moscow has stoked that animosity, especially in recent months, by supporting South Ossetia's separatist drive and granting Russian passports to residents.
Each side is struggling to frame the other's involvement as an invasion and to portray the other as the aggressor.
"The reason we're going to the region in such a rush is that we're trying to figure out what's going on down there," said Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch in Moscow. "If you compare the Russian side with the Georgian side, it appears right away that something is really very wrong with the information we are receiving."
