Bush throws support behind Georgia

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday demanded Russian troops leave Georgia as he dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the country in a strong show of support for his pro-West ally.

"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said in a brief White House statement.

Standing with Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates at his side in the White House Rose Garden, he scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia and warned it had put Russia's post-Cold War embrace by the West "at risk."

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he demanded.

Rice was to leave immediately Wednesday for France, which has led European efforts to broker a ceasefire, before travelling on to Georgia.

"On this trip, she will continue our efforts to rally the free world in the defence of a free Georgia," said the US president, who spent the morning in the White House "situation room" - his high-tech national security nerve centre.

As an international aid operation swung into place, a American C-17 military aircraft landed in Tbilisi bearing medical supplies, shelter, bedding and cots, and Bush promised more would be on the way.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it will be reviewing the needs of the Georgian military, battered in more than four days of all-out fighting with Russian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

But the comments by Bush, who postponed his vacation plans for a day or so to track the crisis, drew an angry response from Moscow.

"The Georgian leadership is a special project for the United States," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.

"At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and real partnership on questions which actually require collective action."

The White House denied that US-Russia relations were on "adversarial" footing in the wake of the recent events, but spokeswoman Dana Perino admitted ties were "complex and complicated."

Bush said he had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili amid a peace push by Paris, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.

Bush also said he had had reports of Russian actions "inconsistent" with Moscow's statements that it had halted military operations and agreed to a provisional ceasefire.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," he warned.

But the Pentagon denied comments by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that the United States would take over control of Georgia's seaports and airports.

"We do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

"It is simply not a requirement of this mission and it is not something we are seeking to do," he said.

Saakashvili earlier had sharply criticised the initial US response to the crisis, saying initial statements from top US officials on Moscow's push in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia were "too soft."

Washington has called an extraordinary meeting of NATO alliance foreign ministers next week and scrapped joint military exercises with Russia, in its first concrete response to the armed conflict in Georgia.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the August 15-23 FRUKUS naval exercise in the Sea of Japan involving ships from France, Britain, Russia and the United States "has been cancelled."

"It just wasn't appropriate in the current situation."