August 14, 2008	Thursday	Sha'aban 11, 1429

WASHINGTON, Aug 13: President George W. Bush warned Russia on Wednesday to respect the territorial integrity of Georgia or risk straining its relations with the United States.

Also on Wednesday, Mr Bush decided to send his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Georgian capital Tbilisi to confer with President Mikheil Saakashvili.

He directed US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to organise a humanitarian aid mission to Georgia.

Georgia is a staunch US ally that contributed troops to the war in Iraq and has sought membership in Nato.

“The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia. We insist that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” said Mr Bush in a brief statement at the White House Rose Garden.

“Russia has stated that changing the government of Georgia is not its goal. The United States and the world expect Russia to honour that commitment.”

Mr Bush warned that Russia’s ongoing actions “raise serious questions about its intentions in Georgia and the region.”

Flanked by his state and defence secretaries, Mr Bush threatened to withdraw US support for Russia’s ‘’aspirations’’ in diplomatic, economic and security organisations. But he did not offer a concrete plan for persuading Russians to end their actions.

Earlier, he chaired a meeting of his national security team at the White House where he decided to send Ms Rice to Paris and then to Tbilisi as part of a US effort to stop Russian military actions in Georgia.

His remarks followed media reports that Russian troops have moved deeper into Georgian territory in apparent violation of the ceasefire reached on Tuesday.

Russian officials said the movement of troops was only aimed at “demilitarising” areas near the border with South Ossetia, the separatist Georgian province at the heart of the conflict.

“We’re concerned about reports that Russian forces have entered and taken positions in the port city of Poti, that Russian armoured vehicles are blocking access to that port, and that Russia is blowing up Georgian vessels,” Mr Bush said.

The war between Russia and Georgia began on Aug 7, when Russian troops entered the semi-autonomous territory of South Ossetia, apparently to prevent Georgians from seizing the area with the intention to merge it with Georgia.

The conflict also involves another unrecognised republic of Abkhazia.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are territories within Georgia that each individually declared independence from Georgia and have each been acting in de facto independent capacities since the early 1990s. Neither state has been diplomatically recognised by any member of the United Nations.