US vice president Dick Cheney vowed today to stand by Georgia in its showdown with Russia, calling Moscow's military push into the ex-Soviet state an "illegitimate" act that cast grave doubt on its reliability.
Mr Cheney, one of Moscow's harshest critics, is the highest ranking US official to visit Georgia since Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force in early August and was overwhelmed by the Russian military.
His comments are likely to rile the Kremlin which has accused Washington of fuelling tensions by emboldening Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, a US-educated lawyer with close ties to President George W Bush's administration.
"After your nation won its freedom in the Rose Revolution, America came to the aid of this courageous young democracy," Mr Cheney told reporters, referring to the peaceful revolution in 2003 which brought Mr Saakashvili to power.
"We are doing so again as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate, unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force that has been universally condemned by the free world," he said, standing next to Mr Saakashvili on his first visit to Tbilisi.
Mr Cheney, on a tour of US allies in the region that started yesterday in Azerbaijan, said Russia's actions had cast "grave doubt" on its intentions and reliability as a partner, both in the region and internationally.
Both Azerbaijan and Georgia are links in the chain of a Western-backed energy corridor bypassing Russia which the West fears could be in jeopardy following the Kremlin's military thrust into Georgia.
Moscow has said it acted in Georgia to prevent what it called genocide when Tbilisi launched its military push into pro-Russian South Ossetia on August 7th.
The Kremlin subsequently recognised South Ossetia and a second rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent states, drawing condemnation from Washington and Europe.
Russia has defied the West by keeping troops in a "buffer zone" on Georgian territory, a move the United States and European Union say violates a French-brokered peace plan. Moscow says the troops are needed to provide security and are not at odds with the ceasefire.
Mr Cheney reiterated support for Georgia's bid to join Nato, calling it a defensive alliance that posed no threat to Russia.
He said he had also assured Mr Saakashvili in one-on-one talks that lasted over an hour of the US commitment to keeping the breakaway regions within Georgia. Mr Cheney urged a peaceful resolution of the dispute, saying the long-term security of the region was at stake.
The United States has considered moves to punish Moscow for its intervention in Georgia, such as scrapping a lucrative civil nuclear deal, but it has not announced any sanctions and the West appears to have few options for influencing Russia.
Reuters