WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush on Friday chided Russia for Cold War-style behavior, saying, "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."
President Bush criticizes Russia on Friday for Cold War-style behavior in its invasion of Georgia.
Bush said the United States stands "with the people of Georgia and their democratically elected government." He said the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity "must be respected."
"We will not cast them aside," he said.
Bush said Russia's invasion of Georgia in recent days has "damaged its credibility."
"Russia must respect the freedom of its neighbors," Bush said, calling Georgia a "courageous democracy." Watch Bush explain why Georgia matters »
Georgia last week launched a military incursion into South Ossetia to rout separatist rebels. Russia -- which supports the separatists -- responded the next day, sending tanks across the border into South Ossetia. The conflict quickly spread to other parts of Georgia and to Abkhazia, another breakaway region.
Bush said he has been receiving updates from his national security team about the situation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, where she carried documents that she said would solidify a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia.
Bush said Rice would reiterate U.S. support for Georgia's democracy, then travel to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, where the two will confer.
He said Defense Secretary Robert Gates is briefing him on humanitarian assistance and he is working closely with "our partners in Europe and other members of the G-7 to bring a resolution to this crisis."
Administration officials said this week that the United States and its allies were considering kicking Russia out of the Group of Eight, the group of the world's most important international economies -- as punishment for its actions in Georgia.
"Moscow must honor its commitment to withdraw its invading forces from all Georgian territory," Bush said.
Noting that Americans may wonder why the issue is important, Bush said the importance of the conflict between Russia and Georgia stems from Georgia's rise as a democracy and its friendship and alliance with the West since the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia is a former Soviet republic.
"The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world," Bush said. "Georgia has sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq to help others achieve the liberty that they struggled so hard to attain."
He said Georgia has been part "of an inspiring and hopeful new chapter in Europe's history," and he noted that Europe "has moved beyond" the world wars and the Cold War, the standoff between Soviet-style communism and the West. iReport.com: Did you experience the Cold War?
"Unfortunately, Russia has tended to view the expansion of freedom and democracy as a threat to its interests," Bush said. "The opposite is true. Free and prosperous societies on Russia's borders will advance Russia's interests by serving as sources of stability and economic opportunity."
The United States is hopeful that Russia will embrace "a future of cooperation and peace" that would help all parties.
"The Cold War is over," Bush said. "The days of satellite states and spheres of influence are behind us. A contentious relationship with Russia is not in America's interest. And a contentious relationship with America is not in Russia's interests."
Bush said that "only Russia" can determine whether it will continue a policy that "promises only confrontation or isolation" or "put itself back on the path of responsible nations."
Rice met Friday in Tbilisi with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. She brought along documents that she said should solidify a cease-fire between Russia and Georgia.
More than an hour after the two were scheduled to hold a press conference, they had not yet emerged from their meeting.
Saakashvili hesitated Thursday evening when asked if he was ready to sign the cease-fire papers Rice was carrying.
"We'll have to see what she has to bring," Saakashvili said on CNN's "Larry King Live." "We are still in the negotiating process."
A senior State Department official familiar with the negotiations said the documents would close a loophole in a hastily written preliminary peace plan that Georgia and Russia agreed to this week.
The new wording would clarify that the scope of Russian troops allowed to remain in Georgia would be "very limited to a light patrolling ability, such as a few kilometers outside of South Ossetia, not the right to maintain a presence inside Georgia."
The French-brokered deal would allow Russian peacekeepers to "implement additional security measures" until international security can be implemented. That could be interpreted by Russia as operations outside South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two breakaway regions of Georgia that are at the heart of the conflict.
Saakashvili said Russian troops control about one-third of his country.
Rice, on a stop in France on Thursday, reiterated her call for the Russians to honor a cease-fire with Georgia. Watch as Rice says the U.S. stands strongly with Georgia »
"The Russian president has said that their military operations have halted. We have hope that he would be true to his word and that those operations will halt," she said, speaking in Fort de Bregancon, France, in a joint press conference with President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Meanwhile, Russia's military spokesman said Friday that "there's absolutely no firing" under way in Georgia and that his government is concentrating on getting humanitarian aid to residents there.
Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said the humanitarian supplies are coming "primarily from the Russian side."
All About South Ossetia • Republic of Georgia • Russia
O Presidente da Geórgia,  assinou ontem, um acordo de cessar-fogo, na presença da Secretária de Estado, .

Mikheil Saakashvili em 10 de maio de 2005.
Um documento idêntico, exigindo a retirada imediata de todas as forças russas do solo da Geórgia, foi assinado em 16 de agosto em  com o presidente russo, . Saakashvili afirmou que irá Geórgia "nunca, jamais resgate" para a Rússia. O documento de cessar-fogo foi originalmente elaborado por , o presidente da .

Saakashvili afirmou que a  tinha sido "convidado agressão russa" ao rejeitar a tentativa da Geórgia voltar a entrar na OTAN em abril deste ano. Entretanto, em um relatório prontamente negado pelo funcionário russo, a  afirmou que tinha provas de que a Rússia atacou zonas povoadas da Geórgia com internacionalmente as proibidas .

Rice chegou na Geórgia ontem e de acordo com Saakashvili, a par reuniu durante cerca de cinco horas.  Na sequência do encontro, foi realizada uma conferência de imprensa em que Saakashvili afirmou que ele tinha de fato, assinaram o acordo. Mas ele salientou que "este não é um acordo já estabelecido. Temos de envidar todos os esforços para dissuadir tal comportamento no futuro."

Rice já exigiu que as forças russas da Geórgia retirarem imediatamente. O acordo também fornece proteção para a Geórgia e um "plano de reconstrução", bem como permitir que certas concessões para a Rússia. 

Rússia havia avançado fora da província da  em 7 de agosto de ajuda aos rebeldes da Ossétia do Sul o que tinha sido combatido as tropas georgiano. No dia 11 de agosto tropas russas avançaram dentro do território georgiano para a base na . Medvedev disse que ele havia ordenado as tropas russas para começar a sair da Geórgia em 11 de agosto.

O acordo de cessar-fogo assinado ontem pelo presidente georgiano foi transmitido por fax na madrugada de hoje, à Rússia por meio da diplomacia americana.

O documento é idêntico ao assinado pelos presidentes da Abkházia e Ossétia do Sul, dois territórios separatistas georgianos, segundo uma fonte do ministério russo das Relações Exteriores. A expectativa é que o acordo seja assinado agora pela Rússia. 




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