Cheney's Georgia, Ukraine trip still on: White House

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

AUSTIN, Texas (AFP) — US Vice President Dick Cheney will travel to Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Italy as planned, the White House said Monday, as Hurricane Gustav blasted ashore near New Orleans.

After meeting with President George W. Bush early Monday, "the vice president said his trip is going ahead as planned," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Cheney was scheduled to depart Tuesday for the Eastern European region in a show of support for war-battered US ally Georgia and amid a deepening freeze in Russian ties with the West.

Cheney will become the most senior US official to visit Georgia since Russian tanks rolled into its smaller neighbor when Tbilisi tried to retake the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia by force.

The vice...