Diplomacy steps in with Russian troops in Georgia

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By James Kilner

GORI, Georgia (Reuters) - Russian troops remain deep insideGeorgian territory on Friday, hours before U.S. Secretary ofState Condoleezza Rice arrives to secure Tbilisi's signature toa peace deal with Moscow.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet Russian PresidentDmitry Medvedev in Sochi, near Georgia's border, to urge Russiato embrace diplomacy in its showdown with its small neighbour.

Georgia has yet to formally place its signature on the dealbrokered this week by France, and President Mikheil Saakashviliappeared uncertain about it.

Saakashvili said he would need to "take a closer look" atthe French-brokered peace proposal brought by Rice beforesigning it. "We have to see what she has to bring," he told CNNlate on Thursday.

Beyond two breakaway regions where thousands of Russiantroops are deployed, Moscow still has tanks and soldiers inthree Georgian towns, three days after declaring its militarycounter-offensive against Georgian forces over.

On Friday, Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were againblocking the main entrance to the key Georgian town of Gori,west of Tbilisi, a Reuters correspondent said.

Russian soldiers relaxing under trees at the Goricheckpoint said looters had been active in the town overnight.

Residents blame the lawlessness on Ossetian militias.Rights groups say militias are raiding Georgian villagesabandoned by Tbilisi's forces and now held by Russian troops.

Russian troops have occupied parts of Georgia sincerepelling a Georgian attack last week on the tiny separatistterritory of South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule inthe 1990s.

The West is determined to stop the Caucasus sliding furtherinto conflict, not least out of fear for the security of keyoil supply routes through the region from the Caspian Sea.

On Thursday, witnesses said Russian tanks had rolledthrough the Black Sea port of Poti, accompanying trucks withtroops to the port area. A large column of Russian troops wasseen in the western town of Zugdidi, not far from the secondpro-Moscow separatist region of Abkhazia.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday he was"extremely concerned" about the humanitarian situation inGeorgia and called for a halt to lawlessness.

Saakashvili said Russia was behind a "deliberate policy ofethnic cleansing".

The conflict has further soured relations between Russiaand the United States. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates onThursday warned that U.S.-Russia ties could be "adverselyaffected for years to come" unless the Kremlin rethought its"aggressive posture" in Georgia.

TROOPS PULL-OUT, INTEGRITY

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, architect of a three-dayold ceasefire, said Saakashvili's signature to the six-pointpeace deal would "consolidate" the halt to fighting and lead tothe withdrawal of Russian troops.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: "We canforget about talks on Georgia's territorial integrity becauseit's impossible to force South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agreethat they can be returned into Georgia's fold by force".

Mentioning Georgia's territorial integrity in any documentsettling the conflict would be seen by people as "the deepestinsult", he added in a radio interview.

Russia has said the case of Kosovo, a breakaway province ofSerbia whose self-proclaimed independence was promptlyrecognised by major Western powers, creates a legal precedentfor Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, responding to Lavrov,said Georgia's territorial integrity was not under debate.

"Georgia's borders have been reaffirmed by numerousSecurity Council resolutions. So the question of Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia will be the subject of international negotiationsas they have been at the U.N. Security Council," she said.

"The resolution of Kosovo's status is covered by a U.N.Security Council resolution and that resolution envisions aninternational process. So the two cases are totally different.

In a move likely to sour further Russia's ties with theU.S., Poland finally agreed on Thursday to host elements ofU.S. global anti-missile system on its land after Washingtonimproved the terms of the deal amid the Georgia crisis.

Russia views the planned U.S. anti-missile shield inEastern Europe as a threat to its national security.

(Additional reporting by Washington bureau; Writing byDmitry Solovyov; Editing by Catherine Evans)