Cheney in Georgia to show support
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrived in Georgia on Thursday to signal support for its government after Russia crushed Georgian forces in a brief war last month and pushed deep into the ex-Soviet state's territory.
Georgia opposition leader dies suddenlyOn a tour of U.S. allies in the region that started on Wednesday in Azerbaijan, Cheney landed at Tbilisi airport and was due to hold talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Cheney, a hawk and one of Moscow's harshest critics, is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Georgia since Tbilisi tried to retake the breakaway region of South Ossetia by force in early August and was overwhelmed by the Russian military.
His visit is certain to rile the Kremlin which has accused Washington of fuelling tensions by encouraging Saakashvili, a U.S.-educated lawyer with close ties to the administration of President George W. Bush.
Cheney was due later on Thursday to head to Ukraine - like Georgia an ex-Soviet country seeking NATO membership - before ending his tour in Italy.
Both Azerbaijan and Georgia are links in the chain of a Western-backed energy corridor bypassing Russia which the West fears could be in jeopardy following the Kremlin's military thrust into Georgia.
Speaking in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Wednesday, Cheney said the United States had a "deep and abiding interest" in the well-being and security of its allies in the region and believed strongly in the need for alternative routes for energy exports.
WESTERN CONDEMNATION
Moscow has said it acted in Georgia to prevent what it called genocide when Tbilisi launched its military push into pro-Russian South Ossetia on August 7.
The Kremlin subsequently recognised South Ossetia and a second rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent states, drawing condemnation from Washington and Europe.
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