A Georgian journalist was wounded while broadcasting live on the road outside Gori. Russia maintains that its troop activity within Georgia is now to stabilize the situation and fulfill their duty as peacekeepers. The six-part peace plan drawn up by French President Nicolas Sarkozy states "that Russian troops must return to the lines they held before the start of the military operation but before an international solution is worked out Russian peacekeepers are to take up an additional security role."
In Washington today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said he does not foresee the need for U.S. military involvement beyond the current humanitarian role.
"I don't see any prospect for the use of military force by the United States in this situation," Gates said, but added that there do need to be consequences for Russian actions. U.S.-Russian relations could suffer for "years to come" if Moscow does not pull back, he said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is due to depart France on Friday for Tblisi, to "rally the world in defense of a free Georgia."
The White House said today that President Bush, who delayed the start of his vacation in Texas to monitor the Georgian situation, would leave for his ranch Friday morning. Rice will later fly to Crawford and brief Bush on her trip to France and Tiblisi.
The fierce verbal exchanges Wednesday between the U.S., Russia and Georgia continued today.
"One can forget about any talk about Georgia's territorial integrity," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters. "I believe it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state."
The fighting erupted following an Aug. 7 attack by Georgian troops on South Ossetia, a pro-Russian enclave.
Today in Washington, White House press secretary Dana Perino responded to Lavrov. "Our position on Georgia's territorial integrity is not going to change no matter what anyone says. And so I would consider that to be bluster coming from the Foreign Minister of Russia and we'll ignore it."
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