US, Russia trade charges over Georgia amid war warnings

TBILISI: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began talks here Wednesday with Georgian leaders as the United States and Russia accused each other of stoking violence in Georgia that could erupt into war.
 
Her trip to Tbilisi, capital of the former Soviet state of Georgia, adds to US-Russian tension over a deal Rice signed Tuesday in Prague to deploy part of a US missile shield in the Czech Republic, a former Soviet satellite.

Washington and Moscow have traded accusations of fanning separatist fires in Georgia itself, where violence has flared in the past week in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two regions that broke from Tbilisi after the Soviet collapse. A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters accompanying Rice, accused Russia of "greatly escalating" military and political pressure on Georgia with possibly dangerous consequences.

"It is our belief that a military cycle of escalation will simply develop a momentum of its own and could lead to a catastrophe in the region," the official said, warning of "fighting that would be horrific in human terms."

He accused Russia of sending more forces, including paratroopers, into Abkhazia and allowing Russian officers to lead separatists into firefights with Georgian troops.

He believed total Russian troop numbers remained below an internationally set cap, but said these and other actions "were not consistent with its supposed position" as a peacekeeper there and "seemed to be provocative."

He urged Russia to "resume its role as a neutral arbiter of peace rather than a party to the conflict, which Russia is in danger of becoming."

Due to dine Wednesday with Georgia's pro-Western president, Mikheil Saakashvili, Rice came to support Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereign "right" to seek membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Hours before her arrival, Russia's foreign ministry issued a statement accusing Georgia of carrying out actions "capable of taking the region to the brink of a new armed conflict."

The ministry said those who "shield the provocateurs and blame everything on Moscow are doing a great disservice to the Georgian leadership and strengthening its sense of impunity."

The statement explicitly referred to the US State Department.

After meeting US President George W. Bush at the Group of Eight summit in Japan, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the signing of the missile defence agreement in Prague had left Russia "most distressed."

"Russia isn't going to get hysterical but will be studying countermeasures," Medvedev said, in a reminder of previous Russian threats to target European neighbours in response to the US missile shield.

Russia's foreign ministry made a more specific threat on Tuesday, saying that if the US missile shield was deployed near Russia's borders, "we will be forced to react... with military resources."

Russia has long argued that it regards the US missile system, which so far calls for a powerful radar tracking station in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles, possibly in Poland, as a threat to its own security.

Washington insists it is solely aimed at shielding the United States and its allies from missile attacks from "rogue" states such as Iran.

Meanwhile, Georgia's Saakashvili says he wants his country to become a member of the US-led NATO military alliance, a move viscerally opposed by Russia.

The Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday said it thought Georgia may have been involved in at least some of a string of bombings in Abkhazia last week that killed four people and injured 16 others. Georgia has denied involvement.

Russian peacekeepers have also accused Georgia's military of making fighter jet flights over South Ossetia in violation of a ceasefire. Georgia has denied this, saying that in fact four Russian jets had illegally overflown the area.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia gained de facto independence from Tbilisi after fighting brief but bloody wars against Georgian forces following the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse.

Tbilisi says the regions are an integral part of Georgia, but has offered Abkhazia autonomy within Georgia.

In Berlin, meanwhile, the US European Command said US troops have started joint training exercises with soldiers from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine, underlining the region's strategic importance.

EUCOM, based in the southern German city of Stuttgart, said the exercises had begun Saturday at Vaziani military base, less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Russian border.