US, allies contemplating action against Russia

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to her motorcade after appearing on the Sunday morning television talk shows to discuss the crisis in Georgia, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008, in Crawford, Texas. President Bush warned Russia on Saturday against trying to pry loose two separatist regions in Georgia and said Moscow must end military operations in the West-leaning democracy that once was part of the Soviet empire. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The White House is struggling to figure out the best way to penalize Russia. It doesn't want to deeply damage existing cooperation on many fronts or discourage Moscow from further integrating itself into global economic and political institutions. At the same time, U.S. officials say Russia can't be allowed to get away with invading its neighbor.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who briefed President Bush on the fast-changing crisis over the weekend at his Texas ranch, said, "There's no doubt there will be further consequences" to Russia.

She said. "Russia will pay a price."

Vice President Dick Cheney's declaration Saturday that "Russian aggression must not go unanswered" was seen by some experts as the first salvo of what could be a new battle over administration policy.

"The last thing Russia wants is a war with the West. If they came eye to eye with NATO warplanes, they would retreat," David L. Phillips, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. said.

Some Bush administration officials are likely to press for kicking Russia out of the Group of 8, which includes the seven major industrial countries and Russia, and blocking its admission to the World Trade Organization. The U.S. also could pledge to rebuild the Georgian military and cut Russia out of discussion over the missile defense system in Europe.

Robert Hunter, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO who worked to expand the alliance's relationship with Russia in the 1990s, said that although Moscow may have provoked Georgia into a fight, the fact that Saakashvili took the bait by moving his forces into South Ossetia last week is a clear sign that the Georgian president believed he would have Washington's backing.

"Saakashvili thought he had room to play," Hunter said. "I would have rather the Russians hadn't responded, but Saakashvili sure . . . did it, and he did it in the mistaken belief, I believe, that he had friends in [the Bush administration's] court."

The Russians say they're going to take their time in leaving the South Carolina-sized democracy that declared its independence in 1991.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday slammed the statement made by U.S. President George W. Bush on the conflict between Russia and Georgia, saying facts mentioned in the speech are untrue, Russian news agencies reported.

"I listened to George Bush's statement -- and was surprised -- the facts he cited are untrue," Lavrov was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying. He flatly denied the claims of the U.S. president that Russian troops had blocked Georgia's Black Seaport of Poti.

The Russian top diplomat said Bush did not mention the arming of Georgia in recent years, including by the United States, which trained Georgian troops.

"No mention was made about what happened on Aug. 8, when Western leaders fell silent while Tskhinvali was shelled and bombed," Lavrov said, adding that there was also no mention of Russia's efforts to broker a ceasefire deal between Tskhinvali and Tbilisi.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the Russian parliament's foreign affairs committee, said Russian forces will be out of Georgia "sooner or later," but how much time it takes depends on how Georgia behaves.

Echoing Bush's call to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq depending on conditions on the ground, Kosachev said: "If I would ask you ... `How fast the American forces can leave Iraq?' ... the answer would be, as soon as we have guarantees for peace and security there

"The same answer would be toward this situation: as soon as we are assured that Georgians will not continue to use military force against South Ossetians and against Abkhazians" _ residents of two separatist areas of Georgia now overrun with Russian troops and abandoned by Georgian soldiers.

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