- US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urged Russia to
withdraw its troops from Georgia as he visited the strategic nation in
a show support for its new leaders less than two weeks after they took
power.
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- "Russia should fulfill its commitments under the
Istanbul accords to withdraw Russian forces from Georgia," Rumsfeld
told a press conference after meeting with interim president Nino Burjanadze
on Friday.
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- "That has been the interest and desire of the government
of Georgia," he said.
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- Under accords reached in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed
to close two of its bases in Georgia by 2001 and begin talks on pulling
out from two others. Negotiations of the withdrawal from the last two bases
have been ongoing for the past three years.
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- Russia still has some 8,000 troops in Georgia that are
covered by the agreement and Russian military leaders have said it would
be at least another decade before they are withdrawn.
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- Rumsfeld is the first senior US official to visit the
Caucasus nation since president Eduard Shevardnadze was forced from power
last month after mass protests over a parliamentary election that the opposition
said was rigged in the government's favor.
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- His visit comes at a time when Moscow and Washington
have renewed their Cold War-style rivalry for influence over Georgia, a
country seen in the West as a crucial gateway for the export of oil from
the nearby Caspian Sea to world markets.
-
- The battle for influence has gained urgency since Shevardnadze
resigned and a young, pro-Western leadership of former proteges replaced
him.
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- Russia has hinted that Tbilisi would be wise to restore
its relations with Moscow following the resignation and has hosted leaders
of Georgia's two separatist and one semi-autonomous regions, prompting
warnings from US officials.
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- On Tuesday US Secretary of State Colin Powell warned
Russia against supporting "breakaway elements seeking to weaken the
territorial integrity of Georgia."
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- Burjanadze, speaking at Rumsfeld's side Friday, also
raised the concerns.
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- "We appreciate the position of President (Vladimir)
Putin, who has clearly said on many occasions that Russia supports Georgia's
territorial integrity," she said.
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- "But there are very powerful forces in Russia which
support separatist regions and this complicates the situation in Georgia."
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- And she made clear that Georgia would continue looking
westward.
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- "The US remains a strategic partner for us and our
bid for NATO membership is of vital importance," she said.
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- Rumsfeld added: "And certainly we stand ready to
assist Georgia in the period ahead."
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- "I certainly wanted to underscore America's very
strong support for stability and security and territorial integrity here
in Georgia," he said.
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- Georgian leaders asked the US to provide financial assistance
in covering short-term budget shortfalls and pledged to move decisively
on economic, political and military reforms, a US official told AFP.
-
- "The government is functioning, but it's like a
sick man up from the operating table, still wobbly," the official
said.
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- Rumsfeld was also due to meet with Mikhail Saakashvili,
the young US-educated lawyer who spearheaded the protests that drove his
former mentor Shevardnadze from power and is the favorite candidate in
the presidential election due on January 4 of next year.
-
- Security in the Georgian capital was tightened for Rumsfeld's
visit following a series of explosions in Tbilisi over the past 10 days,
which raised fears that last month's peaceful change of power could disintegrate
into a violent counter-revolution.
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- Bombs have gone off outside the state television station
and the offices of an opposition party in Tbilisi and a former Shevardnadze
ally was the target of a botched assassination attempt.
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- Rumsfeld was also due to stop at a military training
center, which is a symbol of the close security ties the United States
forged with Georgia under Shevardnadze.
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- Georgia has strategic importance because a pipeline linking
Azeri oil fields to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean runs through it.
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