Diplomats agree UN draft on Georgia truce

NEW YORK - The UN Security Council on Monday kicked off fresh talks on draft text calling for an immediate truce in the Russia-Georgia conflict, agreed by US and European diplomats after several days of discord.

The meeting began at 5:00 pm (2100 GMT), moments before US President George W. Bush, speaking outside the White House, blasted Russia's "dramatic and brutal escalation" in Georgia and warned that Russia must reverse course.

Few details were immediately available about the draft UN resolution, but the proposed text was based on a three-point peace plan that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is trying to sell to Tbilisi and Moscow.

The French blueprint called for "an immediate cessation of hostilities; full respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia" and "the re-establishment of the situation that existed before" Georgia sent forces into its breakaway South Ossetia enclave last week to wrest control from Moscow-backed separatists.

Earlier a diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported "good progress" after the expert-level meeting at France's UN mission on Monday and said the participants were consulting with their capitals on the next step.

The diplomat said the US side wanted tougher language condemning what Washington sees as Moscow's "disproportionate" response to the Georgian offensive.

But the Europeans were much more interested in crafting a text that would enjoy broad support, particularly from Russia, a veto-wielding permanent member of the council, he added.

"This is going to take some time, except if you want a Russian veto, which is not the solution," the diplomat said.

Meanwhile as Russian forces punched deeper into Georgian territory to crush any resistance to their withering assault, Kouchner discussed his peace plan with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Monday before heading to Moscow.

The two visited the Georgian city of Gori, close to South Ossetia, and were forced to take cover when an unidentified helicopter flew overhead,

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was also to visit Moscow and Tbilisi on Tuesday, according to Saakashvili.

Despite the flurry of international diplomacy to head off a wider conflict, Russia maintained an uncompromising stance, with its ambassador to NATO saying Moscow could not deal with Saakashvili, a man it now views as a war criminal.

"Saakashvili is no longer a man that we can deal with," Dmitry Rogozin told reporters in Brussels.

"He must be punished for breaching international law. He is responsible for many war crimes (against South Ossetian civilians and Russian peacekeepers)," he added.

And Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov dismissed the peace initiative saying it did not amount to a ceasefire.

A "ceasefire agreement is signed by two sides when they meet," he told CNN, adding first "we need a written agreement between Georgia on one side, South Ossetia and Abkhazia .. that they will never use force in the future."

Dozens of Russian warplanes staged new raids in Georgia on Monday, although Russian President Dmitry Medvedev reportedly said that South Ossetia's main city, Tskhinvali, was now under the control of Russian forces and a "major part" of Russian operations in the region was over.

On Sunday, the Security Council held its fourth meeting in three days to review prospects for a truce in the conflict that has spread to Abkhazia, another Moscow-backed rebel enclave of Georgia.

Russia sent its tanks and troops to pro-Moscow South Ossetia on Friday in response to pro-Western Georgia's military offensive to take back the province, which broke away in the early 1990s after a separatist war.