Rice urges Russia to immediately pull out of Georgia
In a visit to show Washington's support for the Georgian government, the secretary of State meets with Saakashvili, who has signed a cease-fire plan.
TBILISI, GEORGIA — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in the capital of this small, beleaguered country today to call for an immediate withdrawal of Russian troops, which remained 25 miles away and in control of a key town and highway, and to show Washington's support for the Georgian government.
Rice met with Georgian President Mikhael Saakashvili and his government for nearly five hours about potential U.S. and international economic aid for the country.
"Russia needs to leave Georgia at once," Rice said during a news conference. "This is no longer 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia, when a great power invaded a small neighbor and overthrew its government."
Saakashvili, speaking alongside Rice outside the presidential palace, announced that he signed a six-point cease-fire plan endorsed by France that he and the Kremlin had orally agreed to early Wednesday.
Saakashvili spoke harshly of Russia, several times describing Russians as "barbarians." He called the leaders in Moscow "former KGB warriors," an insult apparently directed at Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who served in his nation's Soviet-era intelligence service.
He warned that the Russian operation in Georgia was a prelude to further attacks on other countries. "Unfortunately today we are looking evil in the eye," he said. "And this evil is very strong, very nasty and very dangerous for all of us."
In his strongest declaration of support for Georgia, President Bush declared that America would stand by the Georgian people and that the staunch American ally's territorial integrity must be respected after last week's eruption of violence, the Associated Press reported. "We will not cast them aside," he said in Washington.
But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at virtually the same time, said the separatist Georgian regions at the center of the conflict appear destined for independence, according to AP. "After what happened, it's unlikely Ossetians and Abkhazians will ever be able to live together with Georgia in one state," he said in a joint news conference in the Russian resort of Sochi with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Hostilities broke out last week when Georgia defied Russia by launching an attack in South Ossetia.
Rice, echoing comments by Bush earlier this week, said Russia's move against Georgia would have consequences for Moscow, particularly when it came to its participation in international organizations and forums.
