U.S.'s Rice in Georgia to secure peace

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By David Alexander and Matt Robinson

TBILISI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State CondoleezzaRice arrived in Georgia on Friday to show Washington's supportfor its embattled ally and to secure a French-led peace deal towithdraw occupying Russian forces.

"I'm going now to talk to (Georgian) President Saakashviliabout the clarifications that the French have provided," Ricetold reporters on the plane.

"And then we'll try to get this formal ceasefire in placebecause the goal of this is to get a ceasefire and to getRussian forces to withdraw from the country ASAP,".

Amid reports of looting by irregular militias, GeorgianPresident Mikheil Saakashvili accused Russian troops of"ethnically cleansing" the rebel areas of Abkhazia and SouthOssetia. He said Moscow wanted to force Georgia into ahumiliation like the one suffered by Czechoslovakia in the1930s at the hands of the Nazis.

Russia says its actions were fully justified by Georgia's"aggression" in attacking South Ossetia last week and maintainsits troops must stay on the ground in Georgia to secure thesituation and prevent further conflict.

The two sides traded accusations on Friday of misconduct inthe war zone. Georgia quoted a U.S. human rights group allegingRussia had used cluster bombs against civilians - a chargedenied by Russia - while Moscow accused Tbilisi's troops ofplanting mines in civilian areas as they retreated earlier thisweek.

Moscow attacked Georgia with troops, tanks, planes andwarships last week after Tbilisi sent a force into SouthOssetia to try to take back control over the province, whichthrew off Georgian control in a war in the 1990s.

Russian troops and armour remained deep inside Georgianterritory on Friday, in Moscow's biggest show of force outsideits borders since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

In Moscow, the General Staff said at its daily newsbriefing that there had been no shooting in the past 24 hours.

The United Nations has expressed alarm at lawlessness inwar-torn areas. Witnesses in the area have seen Ossetianmilitiamen attacking villages and stealing cars.

The United States, a close ally of Georgia, has accusedRussia of trying to "punish Georgia for daring to try tointegrate with the West" and has threatened seriousconsequences for years to come unless Moscow steps back.

In a move further souring Russia's ties with Washington,Poland agreed on Thursday to host elements of a U.S. anti-missile system on its land after Washington agreed to base abattery of Patriot missiles there amid the Georgia crisis.

Russia's envoy to NATO Dmitry Rogozin told Reuters that thestriking of the deal at such a sensitive time showed it wasdirected at Russia, not Iran as Washington has said.

"Of course the missile defence system will be deployed notagainst Iran but against the strategic potential of Russia,"Rogozin said in a telephone interview.

Russia views the plans for an anti-missile system inEastern Europe as a serious threat to its national security andhas promised to respond.

Diplomatic efforts to end the crisis, which has unnervedoil markets and alarmed the West, continued.

Georgia has yet to formally place its signature on a peacedeal brokered this week by France, and Saakashvili appeareduncertain about it ahead of Rice's arrival.

"We are still in the negotiating process...Russians aretrying to justify their invasion and to legalise their presencein Georgia," Saakashvili told CNN. "...I think we should take acloser look at it (the peace agreement)."

MERKEL TO SEE MEDVEDEV

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was to meet RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev in the Black Sea resort of Sochi,near Georgia's border, on Friday to urge Russia to embracediplomacy in its showdown with its small neighbour.

Germany is Russia's biggest trading partner and hashistorically taken a balanced position towards Moscow, meaningthe Kremlin pays close attention to Berlin.

On Friday, Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were againblocking the main entrance to the key Georgian town of Gori, 70km (45 miles) west of Tbilisi, a Reuters correspondent said.

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

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.

TROOPS PULL-OUT, INTEGRITY

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, architect of a three-dayold ceasefire, said Saakashvili's signature to a 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".

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.

(Additional reporting by Washington bureau; Writing byMichael Stott in Moscow, editing by Janet McBride)