- Title: USA: Rice warns Russia over further military action in Georgia.
- Date: 14th August 2008
- Summary: (W5) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (AUGUST 13, 2008) (STATE DEPT. TV) REPORTER TALKING
- Embargoed: 29th August 2008 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- City:
- Country: USA
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVAB6QRCY95JDGL0SUA3UW91F8EY
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday (August 13), that Russia faced deeper isolation if it violated a France-brokered ceasefire with Georgia.
"If indeed Russia is violating a ceasefire, and I have to say that the reports are not encouraging about Russia's respect for the ceasefire, for the pledge that it undertook, that will only serve to deepen the isolation into which Russia is moving," said Rice, adding that Russia had "seriously overreached" in its response.
Georgia last week sent forces to recapture South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s. Moscow responded by sending troops.
Russia and Georgia agreed to a ceasefire but reports persisted that Moscow was still conducting military assaults.
Rice, who has no plans to visit Moscow on her visit to the region, repeated the U.S. accusation of "disproportionate force" by Russia and said Moscow knew that there would be consequences.
Rice responded to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments from earlier in the day when he said Washington had to choose between partnership with Moscow and the Georgian leadership which he described as a "virtual project".
"Georgia is a democratic government in the Caucuses that has elected its leaders. To call it a project of any place, of anybody, perhaps belies more about the way Russia thinks about its neighbours than the way it thinks about U.S. policy," she said. - Copyright Holder: STATE DEPARTMENT TV
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