WASHINGTON — The United States and its allies scrambled Sunday to respond to Russia's attack on Georgia, including asking Moscow whether it intended to overthrow democratically elected President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The activity highlighted international concerns about how far Russia would go and whether its ultimate goal was to seize the Georgian capital of Tbilisi and restore domination over a former part of the Soviet Union.
But the answer to those questions remained elusive.
President Bush, in Beijing for the Olympics, continued his own high-level diplomacy and spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union and shares Bush's general view of the situation in Georgia's separatist republic of South Ossetia.
On Saturday, he spoke with Saakashvili and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"This violence is unacceptable," Bush said today in an interview with NBC, expressing "grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and . . . [the] bombing outside of South Ossetia.
"My administration has been engaged with both sides in this, trying to get a cease-fire," he said. ". . . There needs to be an international mediation."
At a news briefing for reporters in Beijing, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said the United States was "100% focused on solving this peacefully. . . . We respect Georgia's territorial integrity and we expect Russia to do the same."
But worry tinged the comments of Western officials as reports of casualties and destruction escalated. The violence follows growing tension between Washington and the Kremlin over the future of nations -- like Georgia -- that were once part of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact.
In Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney telephoned Saakashvili, assuring him that "Russian aggression will not go unanswered." His spokeswoman, Lea Anne McBride, said the vice president told the Georgian leader that Russia's continued attacks "would have serious consequences for its relations with the United States, as well as the broader international community."
White House deputy national security advisor James Jeffrey offered a more sanguine tone during the news briefing in Beijing, telling reporters that the Russians had informally provided an indication that, with a Georgian troop withdrawal and other steps, "this situation could be resolved peacefully. So . . . they have held that door open."
