Rice due in Georgia amid mounting row with Russia

AFP, July, 2008

TBILISI (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to fly into ex-Soviet Georgia on Wednesday as tensions rose between Washington and Moscow over the strategic Caucasus state.

Officials said Rice would arrive for dinner with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, whose efforts to integrate his country into the NATO alliance have prompted consternation in Moscow.

Russia on Wednesday accused Washington of fanning tensions around two separatist Georgian areas that have Russia's formal backing and said the Georgian leadership was taking the Caucasus region to the brink of war.

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 Russian...